Mountains, forests, waterfalls and plains of bushveld is the province of Mpumalanga. This province consists of two sections, the high veld and lowveld, split by a scenic escarpment.
The highveld offers trout fishing, hiking, nature trails and historic sites, while the lowveld is mostly African game country, with many game reserves as well as the Kruger National Park, situated here. At "God's Window" you can look down from the escarpment over the flat plains of bushveld stretching all the way to Mozambique. The spectacular rock formations at Bourke's Luck is formed at the confluence of the Blyde (meaning Joy) and Treur (meaning weep) rivers. The Blyde River was named by the Voortrekker wives who assumed their men to be dead after not returning from an expedition - only to joyously meet them on the banks of this river. The Blyde river flows through some spectacular valleys and gorges into the Blyde Dam, situated in the Blyde River Canyon and Nature Reserve.
Here you will also find the intriguing Three Rondawels, so named because they look like round rondawel huts. The views over the canyon can only be described as absolutely spectacular! This is a place to find peace and quiet from the hassles of everyday life as you sit on a rock out crop listening to the only sound - the wind.
At the Sudwala Caves, the constant dripping of water over thousands of years created stunning shapes and forms of dripstone formations. The village of Pilgrim's Rest lured many gold diggers from all over the world, but almost declined to a mere ghost town when gold reserves were finished. Today the whole town is a national monument and visitors can marvel at the old historic buildings and shops or learn of the gold mining methods of the early days in this beautiful valley.
