Nelspruit is not a traditional tourist Mecca. Unlike Jo’burg, it’s not a flashy or racy city, and it doesn’t have the scale and PR of Cape Town. What it does have is some of the most beautiful scenery in South Africa.
The Kruger National Park is obviously a major draw card, but the area has so else to offer that it would be a shame to focus on what it probably its most well-known attraction.
Instead …
The Lowveld National Botanical Garden is a good place to start. Facts and figures will tell you that there are over 600 indigenous plant species and over 2000 additional plant species in the garden, not to mention two thirds of SA’s indigenous trees. What they don’t convey is the visual impact and diversity on display. For instance, the garden is crossed by two rivers: the Crocodile and the Nels and on the banks of the Crocodile is a proper African rain forest. There is an area of dense coastal vegetation and one of the country’s largest collections of fig trees as well as the always popular baobabs. The garden also serves a conservatory purpose as it houses a number of rare and endangered plant species.
The oldest known caves in the world are just a 40 minute drive from Nelspruit. The Sudwala Caves are approximately 2000 million years old and were used to shelter Swazi tribes during times of war. They have also been used as a concert hall.
One of the largest halls in the cave, the PR Owen Hall (also known as the Amphitheatre), has a continuous air flow similar to that of air-conditioning, and, as it turns out, very good acoustics. These were put to the test in 1970 when Russian opera singer, Ivan Rebroff, belted out several songs using all four octaves in his range. He gave the caves his stamp of approval when he said that the acoustics were of the same standard, if not better, of any European concert hall or opera house.
Chimpanzee Eden is part of the Jane Goodall Institute and houses chimpanzees who have been displaced as a result of logging or who have escaped the bush-meat trade. Many are orphaned and almost all are traumatised. Chimpanzee Eden is the only sanctuary of its kind in South Africa and is only 15km from Nelspruit.
Guided tours are held three times per day and allow visitors to see one of man’s closest relations in semi-wild surroundings, interacting and behaving as they would in the wild.
It’s possible to see some of the area’s most spectacular natural phenomena in one day, although you might want to take several days to completely enjoy all that the various sites have to offer.
The Mac Mac Falls and the Mac Mac Pools are a must. The falls are a National Monument and are the second highest falls on Mpumalanga’s Panorama Route (after the Lisbon Falls). There are actually two falls to be seen, one is completely natural and the other was created during the gold rush when miners used a little too much dynamite in their attempts to divert the river.
The pools have formed as the result of the continuous flow of water from the falls 3km up the road. The water is cold and clear and, best of all, open to the public for swimming, so bring your costume. There is a picnic area for lazy lunches or coffee breaks. Bird lovers will appreciate the grass birds, thick-billed weavers and crowned and martial eagles luxuriating in the tranquillity of the area.
Burke’s Luck Potholes can also be included in your day trip. It’s taken millennia for the Treur and Blyde Rivers to carve out the potholes which herald the beginning of the Blyde River Canyon. The constantly swirling waters from the meeting of the two rivers create small, frequently occurring vortexes which grind away at the bedrock. The result is landscape that is awesome in its stark beauty and a humbling reminder of the inexorable power of nature.
At 1,829m above sea level, God’s Window provides an uninterrupted view of the rock formations, canyons, forests and vegetation and waterfalls through which you have probably just driven. There are several viewing points and walks as well as a nature reserve and tropical rain forest.
Jade Scully is a copywriter excited about writing copy and stories, blogging about the world and editing. She currently and regularly publishes her stories on a number of blogs. Jade loves animals and hopes to begin writing copy for the animal rescue charity TEARS as her contribution to the cause.
