A Day at Mangwanani – The Original African Day Spa
I recently booked my wife for a full day of massage, pampering and treatment at Mangwanani, The Original African Day Spa. My thinking behind this at the time was that she has been very busy of late with 3rd year Medical School Exams, a Nursing Career as well as being a Mom. I thought she could do with some time off and some time to herself. So to my surprise she responded to my gesture with an ultimatum, “Either we go together or I don’t go”.
I am a 38 year South African Male, I have never been to a Spa in my life, never mind had a stranger slap a mud pack on my face, but because of the love I have for my wife and the risk of having to pay a cancellation fee if I didn’t join her, I succumbed and agreed that I would go along for the ride. So late last week we made plans to drop our kids off with the grandparents for the day on Saturday and off we went for our day at the SPA.
Like any good South African Husband, I did not once mention during the course of the day that the Sharks were playing at 17:00, or that at 16:00 it was the start to the English Premier League Football Season. I kept my mouth firmly shut and went through the myriad of scenarios in my head of what they could possibly do to you for an entire day at one of these secret Women’s Clubs. You see, my perception of these places until Saturday has always been one of “This is where Women go to Congregate and Plan their hostile takeover of the world”. Boy oh Boy, how wrong I was!
We arrived at about 07:30 on Saturday morning to be greeted by a fantastic location on the banks of the Hennops River just 40 minutes North West of Johannesburg. I knew I was in the bush when on the short walk from my car to the Reception area the Monkeys came out of their trees to see what was happening. On our arrival at reception things were very organised and we were assigned a table number for breakfast. A nice light Muesli, Yoghurt and Fresh Fruit breakfast followed and things were going just fine until the time came to get changed into the provided robes for the day.
From where we were seated for breakfast it looked as if there was only one change room, so off my wife and I go to changed, only to be stopped at the door and told that this room is for ladies only. The first thought that went through my mind was……..Why did they even let me have breakfast then? They should have just asked me to leave when I got here! So I am just about to kiss my wife goodbye and wish her a lovely day, when this very nice gentleman takes me by arm and apologises for the misunderstanding, “Sorry Sir, the Couples change room is this way, please follow me”. Things immediately started getting better from this point on. Imagine my surprise when I saw another 15 male Spa day trippers.
Anyway, the day was very well put together, and we were placed on a rotation basis where we were moved from one treatment to another for everything from Foot and Leg massages, to Head and Shoulders with everything in between. I seem to remember them throwing in a Face Mask, Full Body Massage and an hour in the Hot Jacuzzi too. Lunch was included in the booking price and that was very nice with the inclusion of a complimentary bar. At the time I thought that the bar kind of defeated the purpose of the day, but in hind sight those 4 or 5 ice cold Windhoek Lagers are probably what got me to end of the day with smile on my face. Needless to say, my wife had a fantastic time, and she came out feeling very refreshed and ready to take on the challenges of Medical School, Motherhood, and Healthcare again.
And for me, would I do it again? To be perfectly honest I probably would not do the full day thing again, I found it to be just a bit too long. Don’t get me wrong, the treatments were fantastic, but by lunchtime I was already so relaxed I would have been quite happy to sit quietly watching the river go by with another beer in my hand enjoying my relaxed state. I would definitely recommend the place to anybody, and I think they are without doubt onto a winning concept, the numbers speak for themselves. They have won South African Spa of the year 6 years in a row since 2003 and deservedly so.
For my money though, the next time I think I may just try a half day session or even one their shorter Night Spa Packages.
