This used to known as the Eastern Transvaal more or less. Most of the
flatlands or plateau or highveld is huge grain farms. We have forestry
here mostly for paper and pulp and also for timber which is mostly used
in construction of roof trusses, poles, and of course the crap is
crushed and used to form chip board with various veneers for panelling
etc. This runs down from Nelspruit to Ermelo and Piet Retief. The
plantations are mostly pine with eucalyptus blue gum trees in the mix,
ess the eastern areas. The western areas are mostly farms interspersed
with a shit load of coal mining and fossil fuelled power stations. The
majority of Eskom's (Power utility) power stations are in this province
with a new one under construction. There are many that were mothballed
but they are all mostly up and running again due to the demand exceeding
supply and of course our fucked up government supplying power to Mugabe
for free (luckily that has stopped)
Sasol 2 and 3 are also in this province (oil from coal) and at Secunda
(not shown on map but about 40km north west of Bethal) This makes Mpumalanga the second
richest province in SA. We export coal via Richard's bay in Kwazulu
Natal and is shipped via train and road (of course our roads are pretty
screwed up with rutting because of this, and potholes par for the course now.)
Where I stay we have two power stations, Kriel and Matla. Kriel is the blue one.
Taking a trip due east we have the biggest city in our province called Witbank (see pics)
Road from WB to Nelspruit
Significant about this town is the Anneline Kriel 1974 Miss World and the more recent Parlotones band making an international mark and whose name was derived from a club they started out at in Witbank. (see we do more than play jungle drums)
Parlotones who were commissioned by the German World Cup football team to write a song and perform it for them at the 2010 FIFA WC. Ironic we used Shakira from the USA for our team. Politics in sport, par for the course here.
Next city is Middelburg (pics) Middelburg (Official site)
This is home to Columbus Stainless Steel and various mines and power station staff.
A note here. back in the 80's boom, skilled labour was in demand and to attract artisans, generous accommodation packages were offered with mediocre salaries compared to the city. Back then you could get a mine house for ZAR10.00 which included utilities till the tax man started taxing this as a perk. My rental for my first house was ZAR23.00 pm and my utilities was 80% subsidised.
Olifantsrivier (Elephants River)
Not much in the way of town pics as it is ess. and industrial town and no real attractions. You do not have to travel too far for sport and recreation. Fishing here is quite popular. Most folk owned boats and often went to Loskop Dam
From Middelburg on it starts to get prettier and going off the highway
there are many towns with that real country town ambiance. Life looks
like it gets simpler the more east you go. A few of the places that are
in this category.
Lydenberg (more pics)
Graskop (site) Graskop (pics)
In the background you can see the forestry.
Been here personally a few times. Cheap and you get free firewood for
BBQ's and is a great central spot to see all the tourista stuff in the
area.
The two paper an pulp industries in Mpumalanga are Sappi and Mondi. Both are in USA too. Not sure how big they are there but another recent merger was SABMiller,
and thanks to that merger, we got to taste just how shit American beer (Budweiser)
is; ugh! That is canoe beer, you know sitting in the canoe? Your ass is
fucking close to water.
Nelspruit
This is the Administrative Capital of the province. This is termed the low veld as it is only at about 2000 feet and is a lot warmer here than where I live. Great place to breakaway to in winter. The warmer climate sees citrus, banana and pineapple plantations.
From here it starts to become a little more arid and close by is of course the Kruger National Park Of course for you foreigners I suppose I must go there first. For me i grew up with these animals and saw them regularly as a kid. Back in the Livingstone days, our property only had a 4 strand 4 ft galvanised wire fence. We regularly had cheetah in our yard as mom kept chickens.
Anyway, here are some pics of the critters in the KNP.
You are pretty lucky to see the big 5 on one outing and the folk are really geared up to international tourists and pricing here is in USD so most of locals do not visit that often as it is too expensive for us, we just do the day drive through and rely on pot luck. The tourists have the benefit of going off the beaten track to find the critters as the guides have pretty good idea of what animals are where. You get to go in one of these vehicles
The guides are armed so if there is a problem they can defend you but usually it is about conservation and they know what they can and cannot do, no stroking of the purdy puddy tats that look so cute. To a mommy lion you are just meals on wheels.
The best time to visit here is in Autumn and that is March/April to June. It gets cold at night here even though it is frigging hot in the day. I have been with Texan colleagues on a trip they footed the bill for as they could write it off as entertainment. We did foot trails and got close to elephants digging in a dry river bed and hearing them drink, sounds like a flushing toilet. The night viewing is also quite exhilarating and you get to see nocturnal critters too. This is the service you pay the big bucks for.
My favourite place to visit is the Blyde river Canyon (pics). It is similar to the GC in Arizona but we have more foliage in ours. Any YEC folk will soon realise the babble is not true as we have caves and many water falls and curious one can buy at the various tourista spots.
This is at the end of the canyon and there is a small dam and this supplies water to Nelspruit. You can get hot air balloon tours, helicopter or simply drive to the various spots. At a push you can get it all in in one day.
This is known as the three rondawels (Afrikaans name for round huts)
Driving in the area you will see these trees called affectionately Broodboom which is a Cycad These are indigenous to the area and take forever to grow. You need a permit to own one of these.
Bourkes Luck Potholes. This is a very smooth compressed sandstone and the locals make cute curious like ashtrays and jewellery containers from this material (obviously not from this site) Potholes are formed by harder pebbles that grind away the material in whirlpools.
One of the many water falls than can be seen here. In summer the water flow is greater and you cannot see much for the spray. This is essentially the source of the canyon. (more pics)
Sudwala Caves (pics click for lots more)
These are the oldest of the two known caves in SA, This one is not as nice as the Cango Caves in the Western Cape. This cave is dated at 2Bn+ years old. They have a great open air dinosaur museum (not of the Kent Hovind kind) depicting what ancient life here may have been like.
Our kids get field trips in junior school to this place and learn of an Old Earth not YEC shit.
These are of course just models and not real fossils. The real fossils are in State museums.
God must have had a sense of humour with this lil' formation of what is a flow-stone. You get to hit it with a rubber mallet and it sounds like a drum.
The last stop in this area is a preserved town from the gold rush era called Pilgrim's Rest (pics)
This is a tin shanty town typical of the era and all the houses made of corrugated sheeting. It is preserved in antiquity as far as rooms go and there is a hotel you can actually stay at if primitive is your style.
The Royal Hotel (Every town in SA has a Royal Hotel but most would not service a queen)
There are tours to the old mines and you can also do panning for gold. Not much gold left here now as back then the shit was almost in nugget form. This is a heritage site so probably no mining concessions will be given.
That's about it for Mpumalanga. It really is a pretty nature drive. You can fly from Johannesburg international to Nelspruit (small planes) but flash fogs here have caused a number of plane crashes with pilots not instrument rated. The drive is actually better as you get to see more.
There are professional guides one can hire through reputable tourist agencies to show you the way or be your chauffeur. As in any country, tourists are soft targets for criminals and at the airports there are huge police presence to ward off these cons. Most hotels have shuttle services and there is no need to use taxis which is more for the local populace who can tell the difference between the real deal and the shiesters. Best not to risk a taxi ride. This is not Europe.
As with tourists worldwide, you have to be street smart, do research to avoid being conned. Foreigners getting killed here are mostly plane/bus crashes and car accidents, murders are almost nil. They want your money, not your life. Most of these scamsters are Nigerians here illegally (outstayed their Visa) and not so much our locals.
With the 2010 FIFA World Cup, no Americans were harmed to my knowledge, a bar fight or two perhaps, but no abductions and ransom shite.
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