Exploring Mpumalanga

South Africa is one of the most beautiful and geographically diverse countries on earth, and there are many options for exploring after an MEI Conference in Cape Town. 

One of the country’s most interesting and beautiful regions is Mpumalanga, formerly the Eastern Transvaal. Mpumalanga (Zulu name for "the place where the sun rises") is a province in eastern South Africa, bordering the nations of Eswatini (formerly Swaziland) and Mozambique. It lies north of KwaZulu-Natal (see posting of 25 November 2024) and in the northeast the land rises towards the peaks of the Drakensberg mountains and then terminates in an immense escarpment. In some places this escarpment plunges hundreds of metres down to the low-lying area known as the Lowveld.

After MEI Conferences in Cape Town in 2009, Barbara and I flew from Cape Town to Mpumalanga's capital Nelspruit (now Mbombela), rented a car and based ourselves at Sabie, from where we could easily explore the main attractions of the province, particularly the Panorama Route, a scenic road that connects many natural and cultural attractions, and ends at the border of Mpumalanga and the Limpopo province. 

There are more waterfalls around Sabie than anywhere else in Southern Africa so it is worth spending a few days visiting some of them and hiking some of the trails leading to them.

Only 9 km from Sabie on the old tarred road is the Lone Creek Falls, only a short walk through a beautiful indigenous forest. The waterfall has been declared a National Monument, and reaches 68 m.

The Horseshoe Falls are also along the Sabie River and although not very high, they have been declared a national monument.

Lone Creek and Horseshoe Falls

Further north, on the Mac-Mac River, the Mac-Mac Falls plunges 70 m into a deep pool, and can be approached by a 2km walk from the Mac-Mac Pools.

Mac-Mac Falls

Just off the Panorama Route are the  Berlin and Lisbon falls. 

Berlin Falls cascade from the centre of a sheer cliff that stands roughly 80m tall. Berlin Falls gets its name from miners who ventured to South Africa from Europe during the gold rush, and named each waterfall in the region after their home towns, or places from their home countries.

Berlin Falls

Nearby is Mpumulanga's highest waterfall, at 94 m, the Lisbon Falls, one of the most dramatic and scenic waterfalls in the region, situated on a tributary of the Blyde River.

Lisbon Falls

Relaxing by the Blyde River

A short distance east of the Berlin and Lisbon Falls is God's Window, which has inspired and awed thousands of painters and photographers from all over the world. A very steep stepped footpath along the edge of the escarpment leads to the actual view points, where the cliffs plunge down 700m, with views over the Lowveld to the Kruger National Park and towards the Lebombo Mountains on South Africa’s border with Mozambique.

God's Window

The Blyde River Canyon is the 3rd largest canyon in the world, after the Grand Canyon and Namibia's Fish River Canyon.  It begins 35km from God's Window at the bizarre natural water features of Borke's Luck Potholes, one of South Africa's major tourist attractions. They are the result of thousands of years of swirling eddies of water where the Treur River meets the Blyde River, the tumult of which has caused extensive water erosion,

Blyde River Canyon and Borke's Potholes

Perhaps saving the best to last, the Panorama Route end with the Three Rondavels, three round mountains with slightly pointed tops, very similar to the traditional round or oval African homesteads called rondavels. The viewpoint is spectacular, looking over the canyon to the Three Rondavels on the other side of the northern edges of the Drakensberg range of mountains. 

The Three Rondavels tower approximately 700 metres over the surrounding countryside and their distinctive shapes are the result of erosion, soft, underlying stone being whittled and washed away by the weather, leaving the tougher slate and quartzite layers visible.

Mpumalanga is not only beautiful, it also has a rich mining history. Gold was discovered in the province in 1883 in the mountains surrounding what is now Barberton, well worth a visit although 100km south of Sabie. The town is set in a basin surrounded by the oldest mountains in the world. The Mkhonjwa Mountains date back 3.5 billion years, with some of the oldest exposed rocks, volcanic in origin, known as the Barberton Greenstone Belt. A bacterial micro-fossil, the first form of life on earth, was found here and has been identified as being 3.2 billion years old.

Gold was found  here in 1883, and in 1884 Graham Barber discovered an incredibly rich gold reef, which created the famous 'Barberton boom' as miners flocked to the area.  Gold was also discovered in the hills above Barberton, and in 1885 the Sheba Reef Gold Mining Company was formed. The Sheba mine is still in operation, the oldest and richest gold mine in South Africa. However Barberton flourished for only a brief period, as in 1886 the Australian prospector George Harrison stumbled upon the giant Witwatersrand gold-bearing reef, which made all other deposits pale into insignificance. The miners moved on to the new town of Johannesburg, and South Africa's 20th century world dominance in gold mining had begun.

Barberton

The first large-scale production of gold began when alluvial deposits were discovered at Pilgrim’s Rest. After it was officially declared a gold field in September 1873, the town suddenly grew,  but In the 1880s the alluvial gold dwindled and prospectors were attracted to Barberton's newly discovered gold deposits.

Pilgrim's Rest is certainly worth visiting as it is only 35 km north of Sabie. Now a restored gold mining town museum it is peaceful and photogenic but in 1873 1500 diggers worked 4000 claims in grueling and unhygienic conditions.  Many of them died from malaria and dysentery after arduous treks through the Lowveld, some passing over the giant gold reef which slumbered under their feet, and would be woken a decade later.

If all this isn't enough to encourage you to visit Mpumulanga, Kruger National Park, one of Africa's largest game reserves, is only 87 km away from Sabie (see Travels in Limpopo).

Letaba River, Kruger National Park

Oliphants River, Kruger National Park