There’s something about the Great North Road – better known as the N1 – snaking up all the way up from Cape Town to Gauteng . . . to Musina and, finally, Beit Bridge on the Zimbabwe border.
You really start to feel the magic only after you’ve taken the Polokwane fork on the highway between Johannesburg and Pretoria and the first stunted umbrella thorn indicates that you’re heading out of the urban sprawl. Africa begins to stir the blood.
On this trip, we chose to add a few extra kilometres to our annual break in Mpumulanga with a snatch at Limpopo along the way. The itinerary seemed feasible – Johannesburg, Tshwane, Polokwane, Tzaneen, Phalaborwa, Kruger Park, Graskop, Pilgrim’s Rest, Sabie, Hazyview, White River, Nelspruit, Barberton, Kaapsche Hoop and, finally, back to Gauteng along the N4 past Machadodorp, Middelburg and Witbank.
Translated into 10 days, nine nights and 1 500 km.
We did it, and lived. But we made one big mistake: despite three nights near Pilgrim’s Rest and two at Hazyview, there was not enough time to see and do everything en route. For instance, we’ll store God’s Window, the wondrous Blyde River Canyon and Bourke’s Luck Potholes for next time.
The first lesson is to buy new road maps. We learn that Bela-Bela is not what you call a voluptuous Italian opera singer; it is the new name for Warmbaths. Similarly, Mokopane is Potgietersrus, Polokwane Pietersburg and so on (we loved Nylstroom – Modimolle).
Once orientated, we’re on our way.
One night at Warmbaths leaves us, frankly, cold except for the good breakfast and friendly service at Picco’s Coffee Cafe. Time to crawl into the 21st century, Bela-Bela.
On to Polokwane past the famous Tropic of Capricorn marker, branching off towards Tzaneen on the R71 where the traveller is suddenly propelled into a different world at each twist of the road. Guesthouses, game lodges, pubs with evocative names, then the mountains of Magoebaskloof where tea plantations, pine forests, lakes, waterfalls and subtropical vegetation flash by. Oh, for the time to stop and stare, but we’re pushing on towards the mineral-rich mining town of Phalaborwa, a gateway to the Kruger National Park.
A word of warning: avoid the R71 out of Tzaneen on a Friday afternoon when every man and his overloaded bakkie is hotfooting it for the hills. The standard of driving is bad enough to make even seasoned Gautengers blanch.
On, past signs like Half-human Restaurant/Bush Bar and Elephant Walk Backpackers Lodge, and we know we’re in the bush for real.
Too late to make Kruger’s Phalaborwa Gate in time to reach Olifants Camp where we had hoped to spend the night, so we bivouac at O’Hagans in Phalaborwa to take stock and recharge our batteries. (Very important to be sure of mileages, speed limits and camp and gate closing times – these change depending on season – in the Park, we have learned.)
There’s nothing like a pub to glean local information. I yearn to revisit Bed in the Bush a few kilometres out of town, but have lost the contact number. No problem, our waitress says. Her mother knows how to reach Tom Joubert.
In no time, Tom and his helper, Siphiwe Kgatla, have made us comfortable in double rooms beside the pool. A huge fire crackles in the boma, warthogs file up to the waterhole and steenbok steal into the shadows.
Just 10 km out of Phalaborwa is the Amarula Lapa, a five-star conference centre where annual cultural music festivals are held. Tours are offered of the adjacent Amarula Cream primary production plant, where the marula fruit is gathered, fermented and pressed in the initial stages of the making of the famous liqueur. Cellar tours are held from January to March in the marula harvesting season and tastings are offered. There is also a shop selling bushwear and health and beauty products made from the marula fruit.
We spend the next night at Mopane Camp in Kruger Park, then visit Letaba, Olifants with its commanding view of the river dotted with hippo, and Satara en route to our exit at Orpen Gate. Something to note is the African stargazing evenings offered at Olifants.
We have seen everything except lions committing murder – thankfully – and now we’re headed for the pine-clad slopes, sorry in a way to leave the last baobab behind.
Graskop is a godsend after a long and winding drive along the R40 through Bosbokrand and Kowyn’s Pass on the R533 at night (another mistake, as the latter is picturesque). A warm welcome from waitress Nadine and a hot dinner at Notty Pine Restaurant, and we’re on our way to the silk-filled duvets, heated pools and other sybaritic delights of the Crystal Springs Mountain Resort on Robber’s Pass above Pilgrim’s Rest.
Walking, riding, bird-watching and shopping are the main occupations in and around Pilgrim’s Rest. The entire town is a national monument, many of the original wood-and-iron buildings restored, some as museums. Robber’s Grave is a landmark and there are craft and curio shops galore. We take a tour of the old diggings conducted by Chrestinah Mpinga who is looking forward to the gold-panning championships being held in the town this year. Enthusiasts from around the world attend these affairs.
Time to move on, visiting Graskop again especially to see the Africa Silks Weavery and showroom where demonstrations are held, and doubling back onto the R532 to Sabie. This is logging country. We pass trucks loaded with lumber and waterfalls with names like Mac-Mac – called, it is said, after the many Scottish prospectors who came to the area during the gold rush of the 1800s. It’s a fly-fishing and bird-watching paradise.
As we wind downhill from Sabie along the R536, the air becomes warmer, the vegetation decidedly more indigenous with the dusty-white blossoms of the wild pear dotting the hillsides. Within half an hour we are in the lowveld again, passing plantations of mangos and macadamia nuts bordered by purple bougainvillaea and starry frangipani, with signboards pointing to guesthouses along the way. You can indulge in everything from coffee tours to wine-tasting to 4x4 trails to quad-biking along this route. The smell of the potato bush (Phyllanthus reticulatus) makes our mouths water. We are in braai territory.
Idle and Wild at last, where we’ll be spending two comfortable nights close to the Sabie River a few kilometres from Hazyview. Velvet lawns, a pool in the shade of flaming coral trees and giant rubber plants, a pond croaking with bullfrogs . . . and a river walk that scares the pants off our intrepid photographer when he spots a hippo at 20 metres.
Hazyview in the morning is abuzz with shoppers. We cool off at the Perry’s Bridge Trading Post Centre and ogle the latest in bush gear. Then it’s past the banana plantations and on to the enormously civilised Casterbridge Centre, at the junction of the R40 and Numbi roads in White River. Here, we goggle at covetable wooden furniture, fine linen and exquisite bush jewellery made on the spot by master goldsmith Roy Sarkin.
No time to dally, even at the Rottcher Wineries and Nutcracker Valley off the R40 where you can taste and buy orange wine and liqueur. We’re off to Barberton, beyond Nelspruit, up in the hills that sparked the great gold rush of 1883 and the first stock exchange in the Transvaal.
Charming, old-world, sheltered by the Mkhonjwa Mountains in the de Kaap Valley, Barberton belies its ancient history. The 3,4-billion-year-old rocks in this place hosted the first life forms on earth. It is a place of historic walks, gracious house museums, underground tours at a working gold mine and adventure trails. Here, Sir Percy Fitzpatrick and his famous dog Jock, whose statue stands in front of the town hall, parked off for a while, no doubt entertained by the lively Cockney Liz at one of the many taverns.
We take stock in the gazebo at the Victorian Tea Garden where friendly Daph van Rensburg points us in the direction of a choice of accommodation.
Finally, we’re settled at William George House B&B, a restored 100-year-old house on a hill enveloped by a verandah with a heavenly view. Kind Jenny Scott, our hostess, sends us off to an ample dinner in a most unlikely place – a restaurant called the Co-Co Pan hidden at the back of a corner café.
Misty Kaapsche Hoop, home to the endangered blue swallow and its famous wild horses, said to have descended from animals left behind by the British after the Anglo-Boer War, is our last stop before heading home.
We are delighted to get close to the animals, which have right of way in this delightful village. Their only enemies are speeding motorists. Not surprisingly, Kaapsche Hoop has become popular for weddings.
There are some spectacular hiking trails in the Berlin forests nearby, too.
Then it’s down to the N4, with a final refreshing stop at The Tickled Trout in Waterval-Onder before the great trek home.
Box:
Six Of The Best En Route
Grub
- The dew-fresh fruit at breakfast beside the pool, Bed in the Bush, near Phalaborwa.
- Oxtail potjie at Digby’s Restaurant, Perry’s Bridge in Hazyview.
- Chunky home-made marmalade and jams from Pilgrim’s Pantry, Pilgrim’s Rest.
- Unforgettable smoked salmon, asparagus and avocado salad to complement a braai at the Ant and Elephant Restaurant on the R563 between Sabie and Hazyview.
- Ice cream-and-honey pancakes for dessert at The Wild Horse Restaurant in Kaapsche Hoop.
- Smoked peppered trout wrapped in newspaper to take home from Millie’s, Machadodorp; and can’t resist this: melt-in-the mouth nougat filled with cherries, macadamias and pecan nuts from the sweet shop at Casterbridge, corner R40 Hazyview and Numbi Roads, White River.
Links:
Note: When visiting some Lowveld areas, including the Kruger National Park, the traveller is advised to take malaria precautions.
Feature courtesy of By The Way, a Mafube Publishing magazine.
Feature written by Margaret de Paravicini