Sanbonani’s 30th birthday celebration fun
Sanbonani Resort Hotel and Spa celebrated it's 30th birthday in style with the community and its kids while honouring their oldest employee
HAZYVIEW – Sanbonani Resort Hotel and Spa celebrated its 30th birthday with kids on Saturday September 28.
Learners from Numbi Primary School and children from the Vutomi Drop-in Centre in Mkhuhlu were treated to hours of fun on jumping castles and water slides.
They could also get their face painted as their favourite animals. Kids at the resort were also welcomed to join in on the fun.
“This is simply a way for us to say thank you to the community for sticking with us for so long,” said Martin de Waal, Sanbonani’s entertainment manager.
The resort is neatly tucked away, surrounded by a vast residential area that the resort wanted to honour in their celebration.
The weather was permitting and the resort’s permanent residents, the hippos, stayed away allowing the children all the time in the world to enjoy themselves before being treated to lunch and birthday cake.
“This means everything to the kids because this is something that they are not exposed to every day, this is something different for them,” said Ellen Khambaku, a teacher at Mapaleni Primary School in Mkhuhlu. She and Tiny Mkhabele from Vutomi rounded up 30 children from the community to be part of the celebration.
“We call ourselves the jewel of the Lowveld and not because we are hidden, but because people keep coming back,” said De Waal. The resort, which lies between the Sabie and Sand rivers, boasts 86 chalets and 50 hotel rooms, and keeps expanding. It has the largest swimming pool in the Lowveld – often visited by the resort’s hippos.
