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Mpumalanga - Nelspruit |
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Eastern Mpumalanga, on the main N4 west-east highway. Capital and principal centre of Mpumalanga province, Nelspruit is a handsome, prosperous looking little city of broad, tree-flanked streets, clean-lined buildings and suburban gardens ablaze with the vivid colours of flowering subtropical plants. This is the last (and biggest) stop on the tourist route from the Johannesburg-Pretoria complex to the west, the jumping-off point for travellers heading for either the uplands of the Mpumlanga Drakensberg (the high and lovely Escarpment region) and the Kruger National Park sprawling across the heat-hazed Lowveld plain. Predictably, it has all the visitor amenities: good hotels, guest-houses, restaurants, shopping malls, speciality stores (noted especially for the local hand-woven rugs, carvings and leather goods) and leisure amenities. Nelspruit has a small, modern and busy airport, much used by tourists bound for the Kruger National Park. Gardens and Herbarium The Lowveld Botanical garden, on the northern edge of town at the confluence of the Crocodile and Nels rivers, is the region's premier botanical attraction. It's secluded, quiet, beautifully designed to show off the wealth of summer-rainfall floral species (about 600 of them) and bushveld trees. The cycads, those hardy palm-like survivors from that immensely ancient time before the appearance of flowering plants, are especially intriguing. Also in residence are some 250 different kinds of bird, baboons, monkeys, antelope, reptiles, the occasional hippo that emerges from the river, and a myriad lovely butterflies. Footpaths meander through the glades; picnic sites have been laid out. The adjacent herbarium is of interest to the layman as well as the botanist. Crocodiles Get acquainted with these giant, primeval creatures at the local crocodile farm and at the Croc River Reptile Park, reputedly the country's largest - it boasts more than 100 enclosures, an indoor 'desert house' and 'tropical house', an animal touch farm and wildlife centre; also on offer are live demonstrations, river and horseback trails, picnic and barbecue spots. Crocodile River Valley This enormously fertile valley, a prime citrus area, invites exploration. Scented orange groves are interspersed with pine plantations, orchards of subtropical fruits and a wealth of indigenous plant life to create a splendid day-drive destination. Barberton This historic town, in the lower country of the de Kaap valley to the south, has a rather special place in the story of the region. It started life in the 1880s as a rugged gold-mining settlement, which, in its heyday, boasted two stock exchanges, music halls, hotels and dozens of drinking dens. The boom times - known as the 'Barberton Bubble' - came to an abrupt end when the speculators pulled out, and the diggers made their way to the newly discovered, much richer Witwatersrand goldfields far the west. Not all that much remains of the old days, but the Barberton Museum is well worth a couple of hours of your time (it has, among other things, a pleasant Victorian tea-garden), as are Belhaven House (elegant period furnishings) and the local nature reserves. Sudwala Caves A magnificent complex of caverns carved out of the rugged Mankelekele ('crag-on-crag') massif off the main N4 highway to the west of Nelspruit. One can explore the caves for about 600 metres, though the entire sequence is thought to extend more than 30 kilometres underground. The interlocked chambers are filled with strange dripstone (stalagmite and stalactite) formations, most with evocative names ('The Weeping Madonna', 'Lot's Wife' and so forth). Largest of the chambers is around 37 metres in diameter and is a natural theatre complete with 'stalls', 'gallery' and dome-like ceiling, and it's been used for live performances (the acoustics are superb). Dinosaur Park Close by the Sudwala caves, the open-air museum features about 100 life-size replicas of the great and long-gone creatures that ruled the earth from the Triassic to the Cretaceous periods (200 to 65 million years ago). Most fearsome is of course Tyranosaurus rex. Also on show are models of more recently extinct Southern African species, and a display describing the evolution of the horse - plus a few crocodiles, but these are very much alive. The park is well laid out; the bushveld trees are very attractive. Montrose Falls One of the region's most beautiful series of cataracts (though by no means the highest). The waters of the Crocodile River roar over the broad rock face into a series of deep pools. A nice place for a picnic. Waterval Boven Just off the N4 highway to the west of Nelspruit, this pretty little village and its neighbour, Waterval Onder, have their modest place in colonial history: retreating from British forces in 1900, Paul Kruger, president of the Transvaal, set up his republican government in a house in Waterval Onder. Called Krugerhof, the building now serves as a small military museum. Near Waterval Boven is an old tunnel that stands as a memorial to the ingenuity, and bravery, of the early railway engineers and builders. It is said that one man died - killed by accident, drink or wild animals - for every sleeper laid on the line that Kruger's government laid between his landlocked republic and the Portuguese port of Delagoa Bay (now Maputo) on the east coast. This particular stretch was the most difficult, for here the highveld plateau suddenly ends, falling down to the lowveld plain - a dramatic one-in-twenty gradient which prompted the engineers to contrive special locomotives and an unusual racked, or cogged, line. The tunnel is 400 metres in length; at its eastern end is a charming picnic spot; nearby are the magnificent Elands River falls. Mpumlanga Drakensberg Nelspruit serves as an excellent base from which to explore this lovely highland country, its forests, rivers and waterfalls (see Graskop). Kruger National Park The town is also conveniently sited for trips to South Africa's premier wildlife sanctuary. Access is through either the Malelane gate in the south, or the Numbi gate, which leads on to the Pretoriuskop rest-camp. Barberton lies to the south; Komatipoort is on the South Africa-Mozambique border to the east; Middelburg is just off the N4 highway to the west. |
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NELSPRUIT Western Cape
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