Mpumalanga
(the land of the rising sun) includes the highveld plains and mountains
from Gauteng to the borders with Mozambique and Swaziland. This
is 1 of the key tourist destinations in South Africa, home, with
Limpopo, to the world famous Kruger National Park, a huge reserve
the size of Wales and amid the best places in Africa to see the
‘Big Five’, as well as 1000's of other species. The
park features a variety of accommodation, from camping (in fenced
enclosures to keep lions out) to self catering huts and cottages.
Surrounding the park, in a series of linked game reserves
called Sabie Sand, Klaserie, Manyeleti, Timbavati and the Umbabat,
there are several private concessions, less crowded but significantly
more expensive than the National Parks camps. These small, luxury
camps provide guides and vehicles, and offer facilities such as
night drives, walks and off road game spotting not allowed within
the park proper. Since animals wander freely throughout the area,
the game viewing is as good as in the main park.
The
Escarpment
The other main area of significance to tourists is the escarpment
just to the west of the Kruger boundary. This marks the edge of
the African continental plateau with several remarkable mountains
and plunging cliffs. The road along the rim of the escarpment provides
stunning views of the landscape below, including The Pinnacle,
a massive, free standing granite column, God’s Window, a viewing
point over the Lowveld 1,000 metres (3,300 feet) below, Lisbon Falls
and Berlin Falls.
It then turns to run along the rim of the Blyde Canyon (26 kilometres
/ 16 miles long and 350 metres to 800 metres / 1,050 feet to 2,400
feet deep), passing Bourke’s Luck Potholes, a series of bizarre
rock formations created by the swirling action of pebble laden flood
water. There is an impressive 5 day hiking trail along the canyon
called the Blyderivierspoort Hiking Trail, beginning at God’s
Window.
The surrounding area has many attractive market towns,
such as Sabie, set against the backdrop of Mauchsberg and Mount
Anderson, with an profusion of waterfalls and wild flowers, Graskop,
a forestry village perched on a spur of the Drakensberg escarpment,
and Pilgrim’s Rest, a gold rush town with several historic
buildings. Nearby, the Mount Sheba Nature Reserve embraces 3,705
acres (1,500 hectare) of waterfalls and ravines. Nelspruit, the
provincial capital, features the Lowveld National Botanical Gardens
on the banks of the Crocodile River, focusing on Cycads, as well
as other semi tropical Lowveld vegetation.
Limpopo (formerly Northern Province)
Limpop province is bordered by Zimbabwe and Botswana to the North
and Mozambique to the east, and contains a large section of the
Kruger National Park (see our Mpumalanga section). This northern
section is usually drier and has far fewer tourists than the southern
section but still has brilliant game viewing. Access to Limpopo
is via the copper mining town of Phalaborwa, which
has some interesting prehistoric sites, or Hoedspruit, home of the
Cheetah Project and Moholoholo Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre. Just
west of the park, the Letaba area is a flourishing green farming
district with rewarding walking, bird watching and riding amongst
the tea plantations and Magoeboeskloof Mountains.
To the north of Letaba, near the Zimbabwe border, are Gazankulu
and Venda, largely rural peasant communities renowned
for arts and crafts. The mystical South African artist Jackson Hlungwane,
who has pieces of his remarkable sculpture in European and South
African galleries, is based here. This is also the home of the Rain
Queen, said to have been Rider Haggard’s inspiration for She,
and the Modjadji Forest, the world’s biggest collection of
cycads (50 million year old palms).
In the west, the Waterberg mountains and the Soutpansberg
provide brilliant opportunities for nature watching, hiking and
riding, and there are many private game ranches in the area.
In the far south, near the Gauteng border, Warmbaths predictably
contains warm mineral springs. In the centre of the province are
Polokwane (formerly Pietersburg), the provincial
capital, famous for the Potgietersrus, an attractive old Afrikaaner
town, with a rare breeds breeding centre, and Bakone Malapa Museum.
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