In need of a lift? Nip down to Krugersdorp
● If you’re searching for the fountain of youth, you just might uncover it near Krugersdorp on Gauteng’s West Rand.
That’s where I found myself last Saturday morning for a not-so-typical Youth Day event: the Medi-Sculpt Aesthetics Day at the new Featherbrooke Hotel & Spa.
The first person I greet is someone who doesn’t need to go under the knife — the effervescent Zakeeya Patel, who is wearing a gorgeous fuchsia coat with, er, flip-flops.
Turns out the actress and presenter had slipped off her pumps to comfortably traipse around the sprawling estate to interview guests for SABC3 lifestyle programme Mela.
Someone who has been keeping a low profile of late is another actress, Jay Anstey, who stars in the upcoming flick Farewell Ella Bella and confirms she’s happily involved with a hunky new man after her relationship with Top Billing’s Jonathan Boynton-Lee hit the rocks.
“I thought this was a girls-only event, or else I would have brought him with me,” says the dedicated vegan.
Then it’s hello to social scene fixtures Peta and Peter Eggierth-Symes, before I meander past the still-to-be-finished hotel to the lapa where we’re brought up to speed on the latest nonsurgical procedures by Medi-Sculpt owner Dr Anushka Reddy.
And it seems you can’t be a prude if you don’t want to look like a prune, with new concoctions like harvesting stem cells from foreskins for a more “natural” lift while ladies looking for a little help down there could opt for a vaginal rejuvenation.
“Twenty-eight minutes in the chair, with your clothes on,” according to the good doctor, who is dressed in a great Vanessa Gounden trench.
Legendary Eastern Cape hotelier Adrian Gardiner tells us his Mantis Group will be operating the hotel when it’s completed. Anushka’s husband, cardiologist Dr Mahesh Naidu, says they’re hoping to capture a slice of the lucrative medical tourism market.
Next, guests ranging from Mampho Brescia to restaurateur Desmond Mabuza are invited to try out some of the treatments on offer — like a luxury hand peel, and a demo on that pelvic vibrating chair (which also treats incontinence, especially after childbirth and weight fluctuations) — before we tuck in to an eco-friendly picnic spread.
Think gourmet soups, fillet mignon with truffle mushroom sauce, seafood paella and a melt-in-your mouth melanzane parmigiana. Dessert comes in the form of a cheese board, macaroons and baklava wheels.