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Travelers in search of a safari experience need not miss out on great spa services, some of which offer glimpses of Africa's extraordinary wildlife.
WITH MORE AND MORE VISITORS AS WELL AS LOCAL RESIDENTS craving relaxing treatments, spas in South Africa have grown 40 percent in tlie last year, offering an array of treatments from traditional European, Indian Ayurveda, and Chinese acupuncture to African techniques derived from generations of healing remedies. From an idyllic country retreat to the spas of the African bush to the hotels of Capetown, here's a look at some of what South Africa has to offer.
Mount Grace Country House & Spa
For those visiting South Africa for its game parks, a soothing spa treatment is the best way to recover from jetlag brought on by the lengthy plane ride before proceeding to the bush. just an hour's drive from Johannesburg, where most visitors fly into, is the Mount Grace Country House & Spa, one of the best spas in the country. This luxury country retreat features 80 rooms and suites, all with French doors opening to magnificent garden or valley views as well as a restaurant and a spa cafe (one of the few hotels in the country offering spa cuisine). The big draw here is the Hydrotherapy Circuit with man-made rivers running throughout the spa. There are "shower" waterfalls, pools, Jacuzzis, and a saltwater brine pool. Guests "pool-hop" from hot dips to cold plunges before heading for their treatments in four safari treatment rooms (set in tents with wooden decking and thatched roofs) and nine indoor treatment rooms (two double), each with a heated plunge pool.
Mount Grace s signature treatment (its version of a deep-tissue massage) is the Thaba Massage ($65, 95 minutes), for which therapists use the same kind of sticks as the ones bush herders use to keep wild animals away. During the massage, the therapist...