Travelling in Mpumalanga
Cosmos Country
Experience fields of cosmos flowering in the heart of South Africa's oil factories.
Although the centre of South Africa's crude oil production and home to the world's largest underground mining complex, Cosmos Country explodes with colour when pretty pink and white cosmos flowers bloom in late summer.
Cosmos Country lies in the south western part of Mpumalanga against the Free State and Gauteng borders and includes the towns of Secunda, Delmas, Leandra, Bethal, Standerton, Balfour and Greylingstad.
Visitors can attend the annual potato festival or seek their fortune at a local casino.
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Cultural Hearland
Experience the vivid colours of the Ndebele culture!
The Cultural Heartland immerses visitors in colourful Ndebele culture and winds through the north western towns of Witbank, Middelburg, Siyabuswa, Groblersdal, Marble Hall and Roossenekal. The Ndebele people are world famous for their vibrant house painting, bead work and crafts, all of which are on display at cultural villages in the region. The Heartland also has a Boer War route ideal for history buffs.
And, instead of the more traditional game viewing on offer further east, the Heartland offers game viewing by boat at the Loskop Dam Nature Reserve. The The Witbank Dam is the largest municipal dam in the southern hemisphere, with a catchment area of 3 540 square kilometres. A large portion of the region is fantastic for water sports like skiing and windsurfing. The Heartland also offers parasailing, golfing and scenic hiking and 4x4 trails.
Visitors can also see the mining and farming industry as never before by going on industrial and agricultural tours to collieries and farms, while plant enthusiasts will find that the lanatus cycad is indigenous to the region and that a plethora of wild flowers like arum lilies transform the area into a magical garden during summer.
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Grass & Wetlands
The Grass and Wetlands region is unequivocally a birding paradise that lures bird watchers in their droves. The route includes South Africa's largest freshwater lake at Chrissiesmeer.
Chrissiesmeer also boasts a mysterious giant footprint in rock that matches one in Canada, and hosts an annual frog watching festival in summer and stargazing festival in winter. A fierce Anglo Boer War battle that was fought at Chrissiesmeer is also re-enacted annually.
The route borders Kwazulu-Natal and Free State, as well as the kingdom of Swaziland, which is the last absolute monarchy in sub-saharan Africa. It is also home to the 1 000-year-old ruins of the lost Legoya people and San paintings.
The route also includes the farming communities of Carolina, Hendrina, Ermelo, Volksrust, Piet Retief, Amsterdam, Breyten, Lothair and Morgenzon.
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Highlands Meander
Experience all that Mpumalanga has to offer!
Mpumalanga's Highlands Meander is a nature lover's paradise, boasting South Africa's premier fly-fishing mecca, some of the sub-continent's rarest birds, best rock climbing, and most spectacular wild flower displays -- all just two-hours drive from the metropolitan centres of Gauteng and Mozambique.
It is also home to Africa's only breeding community of wild Black Leopard, who haunt the wild mountain ravines and streams that characterise the Highland Meander.
The region's diversity and string of quaint historic towns have made it a popular weekend hideaway for well-heeled city sleekers, who flock to hamlets such as Dullstroom for South Africa's best trout and fly fishing. The town's stone lodges nestle along cool trout dams and streams, where bright yellow arum lilies and 120 other species of indigenous wild flower carpet the region in a kaleidoscope of colour every spring.
The picturesque village wasn't, however, always such a haven. It was the scene of bloody battles during the Anglo Boer War 100 years ago, and was torched by invading British forces. The ruined forts, trenches and artillery placements are still visible around the village, as are the graves of Boer fighters and Imperial troopers.
Those interested in more peaceful pursuits should not miss the Verloren Valei Nature Reserve, which boasts the only habitat where all three of the world's endangered cranes are found. The Blue Crane, which is South Africa's national bird, can be spotted along with the Wattled Crane and Crowned Crane at the reserve, which has been declared an international RAMSAR wetlands site.
But Dullstroom is just one of the attractions in the Highlands Meander.
Nearby Machadodorp and Waterval Boven are also rich with Boer War history. Both towns are built along the Transvaal Republic's major railway line to Delagoa Bay (modern-day Maputo), and were fiercely contested by the British as the Boers retreated towards the end of the war. Visitors can take a walk through the historic ZASM tunnel through which the trains used to pass, and see a beautiful waterfall that cascades along the Elands River course. The route drops to the little town of Waterval Onder, where President Paul Kruger lived for a month before finally fleeing into exile and a lonely death in Austria in 1900.
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Kruger Park
The Kruger National Park is South Africa's biggest game reserve covering an area of roughly 2,000,000 hectares.
Its best known for the Big 5 - lion, elephant, leopard, buffalo and rhino although there is a myriad of other species to spot too.
Accommodation ranges from camping to luxury cottages and bush lodges. Choose to explore this beautiful park from the comfort of your car or arrange to join one of the many guided tours.
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Lowveld Legogote
Lowveld Legogote is home to the seat of the provincial administration in Nelspruit, wild horse town of Kaapsehoop, creative and eccentric White River, and vibey township KaNyamazane.
Here you will find the oldest dolomite caves the world - Sudwala Caves - a mesmerising butterfly garden and a botanical garden with an enormous collection of cycads and African rainforest. There's also a mall with an eight-theatre cinema complex, casino and entertainment centre.
Indulge in quad and mountain biking, paragliding, microlighting, cultural tours to authentic villages and game viewing.
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More Exciting Info about Mpumalanga
Although Mpumalanga is not the only province in South Africa with excellent game viewing, national parks and luxury lodges, it's here that the safari experience has been perfected.
About half the Kruger National ark is in this lovely province and there are so many private game reserves and lodges, that you will have a hard time choosing. Like Limpopo Province to its immediate north, Mpumalanga straddles the escarpment between the Lowveld and the Drakensburg, so the different parts of the forests and wide, slow rivers, while the Highlands are cool and green, with rolling grasslands, pine plantations, pockets of indigenous forest and cheerfully gurgling mountain streams and waterfalls. Most of the game is in the Lowveld, while the attractions of the Highlands include hiking, horse trails, river rafting and other adventure activities, such as gorge swings and absailing.
The fly fishing in the Highlands area is awesome, particularly near the pretty town of Dullstroom, where there are loads of dams and streams well stocked with fat trout. Thre are awesome birds to be spotted, both in the game reserves and in the Highlands, where you're likely to see some montane grassland species, including the rare endangered blue swallow. Mpumalanga also has some fantastic paragliding and hang gliding lauch sites - particularly along the escarpment. The mountain biking is great. Even with so much to do, many people visit Mpumalanga just to sight-see. The Panorama Route is a scenic meander taking in some fabulous sights, including the Blyde River Canyon, Bourke's Luck Potholes, the Three Rondawels, the Swadini Dam and many beautiful waterfalls and spectacular vistas including one called God's Window.
The Blyde River Canyon is the biggest vegetated canyon in the world. Second in size only to ther Grand Canyon in the USA, and the Fish River Canyon in Namibia, it is lush and green with a plenty of plant and animal life and is a major centre of endemism. It's also where Antarctica and Madagascar split away from Africa a few million years ago during the break-up of the super-continent Gondwanaland. Also in the canyon, is Bourke's Luck Potholes - a fantastically contorted area of scenic potholes, and deeply scoured canyons. The Blyde is a great river to raft, with some pretty challenging rapids, but it also offers fun family paddling on a gentler section. The Three Rondawels are three conical hills and the Swandini Dam at the end of the museum town of Pilgrims Rest. The mines were active until the 1970s when they became terminally unprofitable, and the whole town was bought up by the proincial authorities to be converted to a tourist attraction. Museums, cute craft outlets, coffee ships, restaurants, and the original hotel with its characterful bar bring the gold rush era vividly to life. Pilgrims Rest was the venue for the World Gold Panning Championships in 2005.
Mpumalanga's cultural attrations are particularly colourful. The iconic Ndembele artwork that is almost synonymous with South Africa is produced in the museum village of Botshabelo. Colourful beadwork and small painted articles can be admired and purchased while the magnificent painted buidings are - unfortunately - not for sale as souvenirs. They're well worth photographing, though. Kids will love the dinousaur park, just outside the deep and convoluted Sudwala Caves. Mpumalanga has a very interesting technical freshwater diving destination that will appeal to technical divers.
"Copyright: TDS - Leisure Pages".
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Ndlovu Encane Art & Craft Market
Experience cultural diversity at its best.
Colourful, thatched art & crafts stalls surrounding a sunken amphitheatre for cultural song & dance performances on special occasions & prebooked. Ablution facilities. On the Midway Inn property, secure parking, meals, ladies bar, function facilities.
A one-stop rainbow nation experience including 3 cultural huts-Ndebele, Tsonga & Zulu. African cultural fashion-a 1 day sewing service, beadwork, basket work, pottery, glass work, original local paintings& drawings, leatherwork, clothing, framed artworks, hand spun wool & knitted & woven products, fabric painting, homemade soaps & paper, beaded blankets etc. A local job creation project where visitors watch artists & crafters at work. All crafts are locally produced & orders & postage gladly arranged.
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The Panorama
Experience breathtaking views alongthe Mpumalanga escarpment!
Just next to the Highlands Meander is The Panorama, which abounds with breathtaking views from natural wonders along the eastern slopes of the escarpment.
There is God's Window and the world's third largest canyon and biggest green canyon, the Blyde River Canyon. There are also the astonishing Bourke's Luck Potholes and three rondawels. The towns of Lydenburg and White River are gateways to the route, which takes visitors through the quaint towns of Pilgrim's Rest, a living museum dating back to the hey days of the gold rush, as well as Sabie, Graskop, Ohrigstad and Hazyview.
Nature enthusiasts will discover cascading water falls while adrenaline junkies can get their next rush by bungee jumping, white water rafting or going on rigorous 4x4 trails. More gentler pursuits include hot air ballooning, walking trails and gold panning.
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The Wild Frontier
Visit some of the oldest mountain ranges in the world!
The Wild Frontier is a cradle of life with geological discoveries and some of the oldest forms of life discovered on earth, dating back more than three billion years. The imposing Mkonjwa mountains are said to be of the oldest in the world.
The region borders Mozambique, Swaziland and the southern tip of the Kruger National Park and takes visitors to the historic towns of Barberton, Komatipoort, Kaapmuiden and Badplaas. Barberton was the centre of the local gold rush and the façade of Africa's first stock exchange, which was built in 1887, still stands. The region holds enormous sentimental value for the people of Mozambique whose president, Samora Machel, died when his plane crashed south of Komatipoort at the height of apartheid atrocities in South Africa. A monument has been built in a small village to commemmorate his life and the lives of those who died in the crash with him.
The Wild Frontier's heritage trails, hiking and 4x4 trails certainly take visitors on a journey of discovery or one of pampering at hot springs and hydro spas at Badplaas.
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Click on the regional link below to get great advice on more Top South African Travel Destinations.
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