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We are outside on the deck of the Royal Spa at Sun City’s Palace of the Lost City. The searing heat we felt earlier when we arrived before midday seems to have subsided as a cool afternoon breeze wafts from the man-made forest, and the sound of gentle water running from a small lake surrounding the spa fills the air.
I am fascinated by the intense look that therapist Margaret Motlhokodi gives me as she rubs my inner foot and heel, and prods and probes with her thumb and knuckles. She asks me:
I reply to her: 'Yes, I have the badge of honour from chasing daily deadlines as a journalist.
‘’You also have a bit of a nasal drip,” she continues to observe, adding that she can decipher all this from just probing my feet'.
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Motlhokodi, a former marathon runner and health freak, has always been fascinated by alternative ways of healing and sees her job as a massage therapist as achieving just that.
After what seemed to be a million strokes on my feet, our conversation includes how we first observed our grandmothers and their use of olden massage techniques, which tell us that our forefathers were on to something about massages healing the body.
There is so much to healing and relaxing the body that can be emulated from African customs, nods Motlhokodi as she shifts her attention to rubbing my hands.
When I sat on the recliner chair with Motlhokodi, I thought it would only take me a few seconds until sleep enveloped me but it was not to be as her interesting observations and conversations fascinated me and kept me awake.
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I just came back from an hour where masseuse Phumi Mchunu with a gentle and firm touch tried to unknot the two balls on my shoulders she said accumulate due to the body dealing with stress and I was sure I was going to doze off.
Instead, I was smiling along with Motlhokodi as we went down memory lane about lessons we learnt from our forebearers. Between Motlhokodi and Mchunu, the body was in a state of pure contentment.
The Royal Spa opened its doors on November 7 this year, its owner, Vivienne Marks, tells me.
Marks is an accountant by day and a thriving entrepreneur as well. She started operating two small bedroom spas linked to corporates in 2017 and built up from there. She adds she also owns a telecommunications company with her husband called GM Contracting.
Tall and graceful, she looked hesitant to chat about her achievements at first, but warmed up when she recounted how winning the franchise to offer her spa services all came together because "God is her CEO".
The spa offers treatments ranging from massages, body wraps and advanced skin care therapies and they also have a kiddies spa menu for young guests. She explains why running a spa at the Palace was attractive to her.
Marks also operates the Camelot spa at the Boardwalk Casino. The Royal one is her fourth, biggest and most prestigious in her portfolio.
It has nine treatment rooms with three that can take in couples.
She explains that the Royal franchises are also part of the Camelot group and this may be where she heard when The Palace was looking for a partner to run the Royal spa at the iconic hotel.
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“Running a business is not easy, but if you have the kind of support that I have with Sun International and the kind of standards and values the Palace has always delivered, I am sure we will make this spa a success.” As she is based in the Eastern Cape, she says she will put in a lot of hours commuting between the two provinces in the initial phase to make the business work.
She adds:
The 20 employees should expect more Undercover Boss-type unannounced regular visits as Marks says she likes to check her spas out with the eyes of regular guests to see what they will find when they step into the spa.
Everything is perfect at the launch, from the savoury hors d'oeuvre to bottles of champagne popping every hour as the invited guests try to find a reason to celebrate the festive season early with Marks.
