Sitting high in the stands at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium, the beauty of the area surrounding the city of Rustenburg, in South Africa's North West Province, becomes immediately apparent. Where the landscape south of Johannesburg is dominated by sweeping plains and savanna for as far as the eye can see, here the topography is markedly different; cliff faces and the occasional gorge mark the route towards the city, which sits in the vicinity of the Magaliesberg mountain range.
The name of the main road into Rustenburg betrays the region's greatest economic attribute: the Platinum Highway stretches for just over 160 kilometres towards a region rich in minerals and precious metals. Palladium as well as platinum - the region is home to the world's richest deposits of the precious commodity - and other high-value metals have given the Fokeng people of the region a financial independence few others possess in South Africa.
It was with this wealth that the Royal Bafokeng Nation built their eponymously titled stadium, as well as the nearby training centre currently being used by the England team.
Unlike many of the World Cup venues, the Royal Bafokeng Stadium is a multi-purpose venue, complete with running track and all the requisite facilities to accommodate athletics events. But for all the money spent and the undoubted publicity generated by hosting the World Cup in the region, the chances of further events of international significance being held so far from South Africa's major urban centres is limited.
There can be little denying the area has its attractions; Sun City, the world famous entertainment complex, lies just 30 minutes on the other side of Rustenburg. The splendour, too, of the scenery makes the setting idyllic; as the sun goes down on another gloriously crisp winter's day in South Africa, the ruggedness of the semi-arid hills around the stadium turn orange in the fading sunlight. Day turns to night with a hint of purple in the sky before the flickering lights on the hillsides provide sparse, candle-like illumination as the temperatures rapidly drop.
That natural beauty comes as a result of the stadium's remote setting, and what can be seen as one of the venue's greatest attributes should surely be its greatest curse.
