1 Blyde River Canyon
2 Cape Peninsula
3 Drakensberg
4 The Garden Route
5 Golden Gate Highlands National Park
6 Kimberley's Big Hole
7 Kruger National Park
8 Namaqualand Flowers
9 Robben Island
10 Victoria and Alfred Waterfront, Cape Town
The Blyde River Canyon is a place of superb views, soaring peaks, caves, waterfalls and a challenging hiking trail.
Some of South Africa's finest scenery can be found along the Escarpment in Mpumalanga, where the interior plateau (the Highveld) drops away dramatically to the subtropical plains below (the Lowveld). Over the past 60 million years the Blyde River has carved its way through the Escarpment to form a canyon 300-800m deep.
The Blyde River Canyon proper is a 22,670ha nature reserve, offering bird-watching, numerous walks and riding trails, restaurants and camping in designated areas. A 40km-long, two-day hiking route runs the length of the canyon, next to the river, but it is the spectacular views and sights near the canyon and along its rim that are the main attractions of the area. The Mac Mac Falls plunge 85m into a bushy gorge near to the Mac Mac Pools, a descending series of natural basins. Also worth a visit are the 46m Berlin Falls, on a stream that runs into the Blyde River. At Bourke's Luck Potholes, at the confluence of the Treur and Blyde rivers, you can view rocks scoured over the millennia into weird shapes by waterborne debris. The God's Window and Wonder View lookout points provide magnificent panoramas of the edge of the Escarpment and of the Lowveld eastwards as far as the Kruger National Park. Don't miss the view of the Three Rondavels, a group of hills towering over the canyon, named for their resemblance to thatched huts. If you're not claustrophobic, visit the Echo Caves, where the stalactites resound eerily when struck.Bourke's Luck Potholes
Address: About 60km north of Graskop, Mpumalanga
Phone: 013-761 6019
Open: Daily 7-5
Restaurant: Kiosk (Inexpensive)
Air: Fly to Johannesburg
Accessible: Good; Lichen Trail for the blind
Admission: Cheap
Practical: Mpumalanga Parks Board Phone: 017-843 2603
Echo Caves
Phone: 013-238 0015
Open: Daily 8-5
Restaurant: Restaurant (Moderately priced)
Accessible: None
Admission: Moderate
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