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THE PROVINCE OF THE RISING SUN

DESTINATION EXPERIENCE

If a traveller drives from the west across the province of Mpumalanga, moving directly towards the morning sun, he or she will notice an endless landscape that sweeps over high altitude plains where Whydahs and Long-tailed shrikes dance like string-puppets among the flaxen grass in the misty morning sunlight.

Here and there, far apart from one another, are small towns divided between farmland – which makes up a large part of the Golden Triangle, the country’s bread-basket region – and mining, which serves almost all of the nation’s energy requirements thanks to the rich coal belt that lies beneath the ground.

This high country is so endless that the traveller might be forgiven, as the journey continues further east, for failing to notice a slight rise in altitude roughly halfway into the province. Here, around the town of Belfast, the altitude reaches a cool 2,5 km above sea level. This is where top-performing athletes train beneath gigantic purple summer thunderheads that rumble across an immeasurable sky, creating an aspect that matches the rolling lands below. Mpumalanga’s southern highlands around the town of Wakkerstroom are home to over 300 grassland bird species, the rarest being Rudd’s and Botha’s larks, the Yellow-breasted pipit and the majestic Wattled crane.

And then, without warning, the undulating landscape changes dramatically and the traveller plunges down into Afromontane forests. These conceal gurgling brooks and cascading waterfalls that are home to fantastic African water monster myths. The silence in the sleepy towns of Dullstroom, Lydenburg and Ohrigstad, the one-time capital of a short-lived Trekker republic in the 18^th century, is interrupted only by the whizz of fly-fishermen’s tackle over placid pools, and the gentle crunch of a hiker’s boot in search of solitude.

The rocks here are ancient. At two billion years old, they are some of, if not the world’s oldest, from a time when Africa was still part of Gondwana. The Sudwala Caves are an excellent example of this prehistoric age. Remains of dinosaurs and our earliest ancestors who used the caves for shelter and for a fresh source of underground water are regularly discovered beneath the crystalline veneer of the cave’s floors and walls. More recently, the caves were the refuge for Swazi dissidents escaping the wrath of their king, as well as a secret arms cache for Boer fighters during the Anglo Boer War of 1899 – 1902.

Alluvial gold was discovered in these parts in the 1870s, which sparked a veritable gold rush of rag-tag fortune seekers and rabble-rousers from all corners of the planet. Most of the gold quickly ran out, but the quaint mining towns of Barberton, Mac-Mac and Pilgrim's Rest remain as a standing reminder to that wild and decadent bygone era. In Pilgrim's Rest there is a graveyard where all the headstones, except one, face east. This lone headstone, which faces perpendicular to the rest, is engraved simply with a cross and the title “Robber’s Grave”. It is said that the deceased committed the heinous crime of stealing another man’s tent, in those days a crime punishable by death. Evidently, this punishment was not considered harsh enough, so the unfortunate soul got the added humiliation of having his grave orientated so that he would never again face the rising sun.

The province’s ancient mountains and canyons conceal a Pandora’s Box of secrets. Some have been long discovered, like God’s Window that overlooks the Blyde River Canyon and the giant scoured-out rock pot-holes of Bourke's Luck. Others are the stuff of legend, particularly the recent discovery of the introverted black leopard, an amber-eyed feline that prowls the deep-forested gorges and remote peaks of the province. These cats have been spotted periodically, but the experts of the aptly named Black Leopard Lodge near Lydenburg are the most suited to afford the opportunity to see this elusive and rare cat.

It’s not all about the outdoors, though. Mpumalanga is a gastronomic paradise. One can slowly slide off the escarpment winding from haute cuisine restaurants, like Summerfields Kitchen, Oliver’s Restaurant, and Orange and Salt, all the way down to the sweep of private game reserves like Sabi Sands, Mala-Mala and Londolozi, that if anything, increase the quality of fare on offer.

The hot sub-tropical savannah of the low country is almost exclusively the showcase of Africa’s wildlife. There are game excursions and adventures into the wilds to suit every budget. The conglomerate of private reserves is dominated in the east by the mighty Kruger Park, whose fame needs little introduction and even less expounding. Suffice it to say that watching a pride of lions satiating their thirst at a waterhole in the soft dawn light with the sun rising above the Lebombo Mountains that divide Mpumalanga from Mozambique, is unparalleled.