I recently went with my daughter and her friend to the Valley of Waves in Sun City, a resort in the North West Province of South Africa.

Sun City is about 230 kilometers from Johannesburg. The complex is huge, with several luxury hotels, including the Lost City, Cabanas, and Cascades.

Offers a variety of activities including safaris [at the nearby Pilanesberg Game Park and Bakubung Game Park]games of chance, bird watching, trekking, elephant and/or horseback riding, golf courses and some water sports.

We didn’t want to spend our limited time running around the resort trying to get everything done. So we opted to spend most of our time at the beach, participating in spring break activities.

For one week in September, a mobile phone company whose activities I follow hosts a week-long event where families can come play, watch extreme water sports, and relax. People can also come on day trips to the event, which is broadcast live on radio and television.

Unlike its college-associated cousin, this spring break involves clean family fun, with toddlers, school-age kids, and teens playing together in various ever-changing groups. Parents, grandparents and other relatives can choose to take a dip in the water or participate in the organized games.

I wanted to include an elephant ride in our program, but the girls outvoted me and insisted that I would be too busy playing in the water to bother with smelly elephants. I also suspected that they were a bit afraid of approaching a “wild animal” so I didn’t push it. Maybe I will the next time we come.

These are some of the activities we did:

1. He Took Surfing Lessons Then Chased The Waves – At first it felt strange, standing on what passes for a beach knowing full well that the ocean was hundreds of miles away. But the artificial surf can also be high in this small pond, and parents and children alike can have a lot of fun diving underwater or riding a wave.

2. Climbing learned – Amid the natural rocks surrounding the beach area, it is ironic that the area designated for rock climbing is artificial. But the kids had as much as if they were climbing for real, so I’m not complaining.

3. He played volleyball, hula-hooped – The teenagers among the various family groups were happy to gather the younger children and teach them games or hold some competitions.

4. Floating on the lazy river – The walk along the river was calm and smooth, until the stone monkeys on the river bank began to spit water in my face. The girls thought it was funny to see me duck and turn, trying to avoid the water. Hey!

5. I went on a water slide down a steep hill – The person going on a slide has to be at least 1.2 meters tall, so my daughter’s friend, who is also nine but much shorter, couldn’t go. So we do not delay in this activity.

6. We saw demonstrations – The formal program included demonstrations of water skiing and surfing, as well as dance routines by a group of cheerleaders. The dancers, mostly college students, were pretty good; their slender figures were shaped enough to make many a teenager’s heart beat faster.

7. Read a novel, work a little– Reading by the water is very hard work, especially when the heat hits you, urging you to doze off for just a minute or ten. I also brought a pad and pen, so I took some notes to write about the trip later.

8. I took photos of some monkeys. – The first day of our stay, we got lost on the way to our hotel. I don’t know how I did it, because the layout of the resort is such that it should have gone from the beach, through the entertainment area, to the main entrance of the Cascades, where we were staying. But somehow, we found ourselves at the back of the hotel, watching monkeys rummaging through trash cans and chasing each other through the trees. We were very careful not to get close to them, but we took as many photos as we could without scaring them.