Despite its location in the middle of a desert, Las Vegas in the U.S. has nonetheless become an internationally renowned city of entertainment. Likewise, 
Sun City of South Africa has also drawn the attention of tourists worldwide with its lavish amenities and awe-inspiring natural sceneries. In recent years, Sun City has gradually become a popular site of attraction in the international tourism market. Sun City is situated northwest of Johannesburg at approximately 2 ?-hour drive away, and its construction began as early as the mid 1970s. The objective behind its initiation was to create a luxurious zone of entertainment that could rival America's Las Vegas in South Africa. After the planning was completed, the large scaled construction of Sun City finally commenced in July 1978.

The initial construction project included a hotel with 340 guestrooms with swimming pools, tennis courts, an artificial lake that would allow various water activities and a golf course designed by South African golfer Gary Player. In addition, Sun City would also be the home to the largest casino, completed with an international standard theatre for performance.

After more than a decade of non-stop expansion, the present day Sun City has four resort hotels, three golf courses and a large entertainment center, which encompasses dining establishments, a cinema, a shopping mall, a conference center and a 6,000-seater auditorium designed to host various sports games and performances by celebrated artists from all over the world. 

Apart from the miraculous prosperity at Sun City, which is situated in the middle of a wasteland, "the Lost City" (completed in 1993) is another source of attraction that appeals to tourists from around the world. 
There is actually an ancient legend about the Lost City: before the rise of Western civilizations, nomads from central Africa built a majestic city of incredible grandeur at the "Valley of Sun". Numerous tales spoke of the city's stunning natural sceneries. Unfortunately, a great earthquake occurred and the city was engulfed in lava that escaped during the disaster. As a result, the lost city became a part of local legend.

"The Lost City" occupies a land area of 25 hectares with The Palace Hotel (a five-star hotel with 350 guestrooms) at its heart. The interior of the hotel is lavishly decorated to create the most luxurious and elegant environment possible. Even the bas-reliefs on the furniture available in all guestrooms feature designs of different wild life species to accentuate the unique qualities of Africa. Even items as trivial as stationery provided by the hotel reflect the authentic styling of Africa. Villa d'Este is a rotating restaurant build in the middle of a pond and it is one of the hotel's key attractions. The Palace Hotel places great emphasis in making patrons feel like royalties with its exquisite services. 

 The Lost City is now considered a "must-visit" locale for tourists to Sun City. The unique and extravagant designs of the Palace Hotel and the wide array of fun and exciting entertainments available at the Lost City are the primary draws that appeal to travel enthusiasts around the world to choose Sun City as their vacation destination. 

Visitors to the Lost City will undoubtedly drop by the Palace Hotel, which is renowned for its exquisite services that would offer "a taste of what being emperor would feel like". There are many things at the Palace Hotel that would catch your attention, and its domed lobby will certainly be one of it. The magnificent 25-meter high lobby is supported by six pillars (each with a diameter of 16 meters and detailed with outstanding craftsmanship) with a hand-painted ceiling. Coupled with a marbled floor of 38 different colors, the lobby emanates a majestic quality that rivals an imperial court. It is said that the oil paintings featured at the lobby alone took a staggering 5,000 man-hours to complete.
 In addition, an exquisite bronze sculpture (standing at a height of 4.5 meters) of Shawu (the largest elephant to roam at Kruger National Park) is erected to the west of the lobby. It is the masterpiece of renowned sculptor Dan'e de Jager that cost R1.5 million to complete over a period of three years.

According to legend, the lost city was located at a place near the summit of a mountain and the center of a water body. As such, ponds, waterfalls and jungles with rapid streams have become the most frequently occurring themes of design at the hotel. The designers of the hotel have gone at great lengths to create an environment with beautiful natural landscape that visitors would find it hard to part with. Take the pond around the hotel for example: the total area covered by water comes to 32, 000m2, which includes an artificial surfing pool that can generate waves with a height of 2m for visitors to surf. On top of that, there are also five water slides with varying degrees of incline to deliver an exciting ride down the water chute. Two of the slides are cleverly constructed through openings amidst rocks, which make them feel like authentic underground rapids. Within the proximity of the Lost City, more than 1.6 million species of plants introduced from around the world have been cultivated and the whole area is just like a botanical garden right in the middle of a tropical jungle. These vegetations are grown according to their heights into three tiers: the top tier reaches up to 40 meters, followed by the second tier at 20 meters and the species at the last tier are within arm's reach for the average person (including undergrowths such as moss and lichen).