Home Page

Emerald Casino 9th - 11th Nov 2007

The time came again to get away from it all and relax. We were wanting to go somewhere where there was a good caravan site and water where we could fish as well as Ski.

There are not many dams or rivers around where all of the above is possible at the same time. There seemed one prospective chance and this was the Vaal River. There are 3 caravan parks that I know of and so decided to see what we could do.

Abrahamsrus caravan site is somewhere we have been many years in the past. Was very nice, but a bit isolated on the far end of the river. The other option was Emfuleni Caravan Park. On phoning, the site has been closed down for the development of houses.

Then there was Emerald Casino. Now this interested me as it "should" be a brilliant resort with added attractions all round. Made the phone call and the scene was set.

Emerald Casino Caravan park was, brilliant and disappointing all in one. There is huge potential and hopefully the Casino management will see this potential one day. Major bug bear was "Taps". Yes, "Taps". Every single tap in the resort including the showers are the push knob type. I.e. you push the knob and water comes out. Stop pushing and nada! Even the showers were the same!!! Only one knob. No hot or cold, just a combination from the one knob. It was a lucky dip on what temperature the water would come out as. Furthermore, we were fortunate in that one press of the water knob in the showers kept the water on for about 30 seconds. Yes, you heard me correctly. You then needed to press the button again, and again, and again. You get the message.

Also, the clientele is obviously of the partying type. I.e. again, drinking and shouting into the night.

Otherwise, we really enjoyed it. The sites were nice although with limited shade. Trees have been planted, however, they still need some time to grow. The braais are lovely and if I could have nicked on, I would have ;-)

Anyway, to some photos...

The Emerald Casino Caravan Park

John and his Bass

Fun on the water.

Animal Park

The scenic shots

Emerald Casino Caravan Park

	Here was our set up for the weekend. We were lucky to get a shady site as we arrived at about 09h30 on the Friday morning. Any later and I think we would have been in the burning sun as there were not that many shady sites.
	The top two photos are of the reception area and the chalets that are also in the resort. The bottom two photos are the grounds out towards the swimming pool and play area.
	At the camp site there is access to the water at the area shown on the left. The top two photos are early on Sunday morning before 05h30. It was such a beautiful sunrise with all the mist around. The bottom are two photos of folks boating on the river as well as the resorts beach area which is neatly manicured with braai facilities and the likes.
	A short drive down the road (about 2 km's) is the Casino itself. The photos on the left are of the casino taken from the river. There is an Aqua Dome for the kiddies to go an play. Very nice but not quite like Sun City. The family and I took some time out to play Ten Pin bowling. Great fun was had. There is also an amusement arcade. Basically lots to keep the kids happy.

John and his Bass

Below are a few photos of the 3 different Bass John caught over the weekend.

Fun on the water

Here is John and Hayleigh having some fun on the skies

 

The animal Park.

When looking at going to Emerald Casino, I looked at the resort on Google earth. What popped up was that down the road (about 2km's) was an Animal park. I did not think much about it until after we had set up and were having a drink, Hayleigh said "Listen, LION". Unbeknown to us were all the animals below and many more. They even have a game drive where you go out into the veld to see a whole lot of other animals.

The Scenic shots.

Till next time keep well, travel safe and enjoy.

Home