Mpumulanga

Beyond the smog-laden air of the industrial belt, the highveld plateau begins to break up: first there are hills, and then lofty peaks, deep valleys and grand vistas. This is the Drakensberg, part of a high, continuous and sometimes spectacular ridge called the Great Escarpment.

The Mpumulanga mountains aren't quite as dramatic as those farther to the south, in Kwazulu-Natal, but they are a great deal more accessible and have a variegated beauty all their own. Their eastern faces are steep; the often-misty upper and middle slopes mantled by some of the largest man-made forests in the world and, in parts, by dense and lovely indigenous woodlands.

The air is clear and cool for much of the year and there are crystal-like streams, graceful waterfalls, and large rivers, like the Olifants and the Blyde, that have carved immense gorges through the sandstone heights.

These highlands, and the lower regions to the south, occupy a special and fascinating chapter in the story of South Africa. They were once the home of the San hunter-gatherers and then of the southward-migrating Bantu-speaking peoples. Most of the little towns and villages of the Escarpment owe their origins to gold. Barberton,Pilgrim's Rest and Sabie began life in the later 19th century as gold diggers' camps.

In the east, the Escarpment plunges down to the coastal plain, a comparatively narrow strip of bushveld and savanna that stretches through the vastness of the Kruger National Park and southern Mozambique to the sea. This is the hot and humid Lowveld, whose sweet grasses support some of the densest concentrations of big game on the continent. Of the reserves, the Kruger is by far the largest and best known, catering for upwards of a million visitors a year. More exclusive are the private sanctuaries that line its western boundaries and whose owners run comfortable, even luxurious, little camps in and around the vast tracts of veld known as Timbavati, Klaserie and the Sabie-Sand Game Reserve. A magnificent wilderness, perhaps more than any other part of the Republic, the Lowveld comes closest to what one thinks of as the 'real Africa'.

Barbeton, set in the rolling countryside of the De Kaap Valley in the eastern part of Mpumulanga, is a small, quiet town lined with Jacaranda trees and is a town with a deep sense of history.

Some 50km to the west of Barbeton are the magnificent Elands River Falls, from which the charming twin village of Waterval-Bowen and Waterfal-Onder derive their names.

North of Barberton lies Nelspruit, 'capital' of Mpumulanga. It is a substantial and attractive town with wide, shady thoroughfares and tree-garlanded suburbs, and is also the centre of a rich farming areas. This land also nurtures pine, wattle and a wealth of indigenous flowering trees.

To the west of Nelspruit are the Sudwala Caves, famed for the number and variety of their unusual dripstone formations. Hollowed out of the Mankelekele massif, the series of underground chambers are said to extend for a full 30 km, but casual vistors are permitted to explore only 600 m of this underground wonderland.

A short drive north from Nelspruit takes you to the town of Sabie, founded on gold in 1895 but sustained in its middle and later years by the great forestry plantations of the region.

The town of Pilgrims Rest was bought in its entirety by the Transvaal Provisional Administration in 1974 and converted into a living museum. Many of the old buildings dating to the period before 1915 have been restored to their original state.

The Blyde River Canyon is one of the great natural wonders of Africa,an immense 20kmlong red-sandstone gorge near the confluence of the Blyde and Treur rivers. In parts, the almost sheer rock faces fall for nearly a kilometre from the summit to the swirling waters below.

The Canyon is the focal point of the popular Blyderivierspoort Nature Reserve, a green and pleasant wilderness criss-crossed by walking and hiking paths. Indeed, there are many reminders of the pioneering days around the upper reaches of the Blyde River, including long-forgotten trails, campsites and miners' claims that recall a more romantic and adventurous era.

The area has much else to offer the visitor. For the more energetic there is the 56-km Blyderivierspoort Hiking Trail, which starts at God's Window, runs through the nature reserve and then down to Swadini in the Lowveld. For the less so, there are shorter walks through terrain resplendant with fern and cycad, wild fig and orchid, erica and protea and everywhere the sight and sound of the region's prolific bird life. Of more formal interest is the Swadini Reptile Park, just outside the reserve, and the Echo Caves, a little to the west of the resort. These dolomite caverns, largest of which is 100 m long and 50 m high, are a rich repository of stone-age artefacts.

For sheer woodland magic and scenic splendour, there are few, if any, regions to match the hills and valleys of the Tzaneen area, on the northern edge of the Escarpment. The land is given over to forest plantations, tea estates, subtropical fruits, macadamia nuts, display flowers and winter vegetables. The countryside is well watered, the soil richly red, and the wealth of the good earth is everywhere to be seen.

Tzaneen is a busy little centre with an attractively tropical feel about it, and the roads that radiate from it lead you through a landscape and to places that are as varied as they are delightful. In the hills to the west is the misty Magoebaskloof, where tea crops are intensively cultivated on the lower reaches; superb indigenous ironwoods, red stinkwoods, cabbage trees, yellowwoods, rooikaats and planted pines grace the upper slopes. The Debegeni Falls and the lovely Woodbush Forest Estate are within short driving distance of the kloof.

To the south and south-east of Tzaneen lies the fertile Letaba River Valley, the New Agatha Forest, the scenic George's Valley and the lonely ruggedness of the Wolkberg Wilderness Area. The Wolkberg's bird life includes black eagle and Egyptian goose, hamerkop, rock kestrel and goliath heron; among its physical features are a myriad streams and waterfalls.

A longer drive eastwards will take you to the extensive Hans-Merensky Nature Reserve or, should you bear south-east, over the Murchison range to Gravelotte and to the small 'ghost town' of Leydsdorp. This region has a special niche in South Africa's mining story, although the Murchison gold rush was shortlived enough, ending abruptly in the 1880s.

The ancient and strange-looking baobab tree is a common sight in the area, one particular specimen here being noted for both its size and application: its hollow bole once served as a pub for the thirsty miners of old, accommodating up to twelve men at a time.

The Kruger National Park is the pride of Mpumulanga. A vast expanse of Lowveld savanna, bush and splendid indigenous trees, it stretches 350 km from the Crocodile River in the south to Kipling's great and grey-green Limpopo in the north. Altogether it is 19 485 square kilometres in extent. For game-viewing in comfort, it is surpassed by no other park in the world. Among its many varieties of wildlife are 147 species of mammal,including numerous herds of impala and zebra and the 'big five' of elephant, lion, leopard, rhino and buffalo.

West of the Kruger National Park lie some of the largest private game reserves in the world, sprawling over the Lowveld terrain from Timbavati in the north, through Klaserie, to the 75 000-ha Sabie-Sand Game Reserve in the south. Most of them are extremely comfortable, tree-shaded camps where guests are looked after, spoilt even, by experienced rangers from the first light of dawn until the last tired flicker of the bond fire at night.

In parts, the game is incredibly prolific. Timbavati is reputed to have one of the highest densities of giraffe in Africa, and is home to several breeding herds of elephant. It is also the stalking ground of a lion population which occasionally produces pure-white offspring. Sabie-Sand has the largest wildlife concentration of all. The drawcard here, as elsewhere, is the big game: lion, leopard, rhino, elephant and, much rarer, the cheetah.