Think Crocodile, Lion, Hippo, Elephant, Leopard, Rhino, Cheetah, herds of Buffalo, Game, Giraffe, Zebra, Anatelope in their hundreds and thousands, under a hot African Sun. Mpumalanga shares the Big Game heavy ‘lowveld’ biome with Limpopo Province to the north, much of which is protected within the Greater Kruger National Park.
Besides the Kruger National Park, there are a number of Private Game Reserves and Lodges that offer from ultra-luxury to family – friendly safari accommodation and experiences, in a hot, lush and scenically beautiful area.
Easily the ‘biggest’ tourist attraction of the Lowveld Region of Mpumalanga, the Kruger National Park and the ‘Safari Industry’ dominates the tourism profile of the area, but there is far more to the Lowveld Region than ‘Kruger’, camping holidays in ‘the bush’ and lions lying around on the roads posing for tourist snaps.
The Lowveld stretches east from the Panorama Route on the Drakensberg Escarpment to Komatipoort at the Mozambique border, and south-east to Swaziland. This scenic region enjoys a sub-tropical climate with hot summers and mild winters, and is a tropical and sub-tropical fruit and citrus growing region. In addition to orchards, there are sugarcane, cotton and tobacco plantations, and in towns like Barberton there is more than a little gold-mining history to entice those with an interest in the past and what lies beneath the earth. Thanks to the proximity of most towns, commercial infrastructure is well developed and tourists are well catered for with regards to accommodation and activities ranging from adventure activity offerings to horse trails, 4×4, MTB trails and hiking trails.
Look back west from Mpumalanga’s administrative capital city of Nelspruit and you will find an entirely different kind of Africa in the historical village of Kaapse Hoop…and nearby a recently discovered mystery that some say will re-write human history…
