Having already begun our journey through the province as part of the Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency (MTPA) #MpumalangaBeyondWildlife and get to #KnowYourSmallTown festive season campaign, join us as we continue to venture through some of the best kept travel secrets in Mpumalanga.
Through creating awareness on the unique tourism and heritage offerings available for tourists to explore in those small towns, many of which are not well known to mainstream tourism, we look forward to welcoming an influx of Festive Season travellers in search of the road less travelled.
Graskop Gorge
Serving up a family adventure of a lifetime, the Graskop Gorge can now be experienced like never before thanks to the latest tourism innovation taking the region by storm. Welcoming guests to explore the unrelenting beauty of the Graskop Gorge, the Graskop Gorge Lift Company plunges visitors 50 meters into the Afromontane forests of the Graskop Gorge below. Surrounded by rugged crags and dramatic overhead cliffs, visitors can now explore the abundant forest wildlife, indigenous fauna and flora as well as exquisite forest birding to be viewed along wooden decks and walkways that meander through these lush forests. Over and above the pioneering lift that takes guests into the depths of the forest below, the Graskop Gorge Lift Company have more recently opened their suspension bridge. Built around the edge of the gorge as an alternative vantage point, the suspension bridge runs along 52 meters linking the southern side of the gorge to its northern neighbour, home to a 70-metre free fall Big Swing as well as zip lining experiences and state of the art electric bike trails for those in search of the ultimate adrenaline adventure.
Bethal
Paying homage to some of South Africa’s most prominent liberation struggle heroes, the centre of the small farming and mining town of Bethal is in a shape of a T with a glorious bronze statue that stands tall and proud of Gert Sibande. Honoured for the role he played in political activism and founding the farm workers' association, Sibande was aptly nicknamed "Lion of the East" and is today celebrated amongst other things for assisting in exposing the slave like conditions that the Bethal farmworkers we subjected to. In addition, this iconic figure is purposefully positioned to overlook an equally meaningful statue of Nokuthula Simelane and with the recently renovated Nomoya Masilela Museum in the background.
Amersfoort
Welcoming a growing number of Dutch tourists interested in learning about the Dutch Reformed Church settlement, Amersfoort is also known to have been named after the city in central Hollywood and is linked to a number of mysteries associated with the tales of the hidden Kruger Millions and the profiled Afrikaans heroine Racheltjie de Beer.
Said to have given her life in order to save that of her brother, in search of their much loved calf "Frik" the two children became lost during a cold winter’s night in the then Orange Free State to the south-eastern Transvaal. To protect her little brother from the bitter cold of winter, Rachel found an anthill and gave him all of her cloths instructing the little boy to climb into the hollowed out anthill while she lay in front of the opening to keep out the cold. The two children were found in the morning and while her little brother Dirkie had survived the night, Racheltjie had tragically perished in the cold.
Next up, keep a lookout for the third #KnowYourSmallTown in the #MpumalangaBeyondWildlife Festive Campaign detailing; Volkrust, Wakkerstroom, Lows Creek, Lydenburg and Belfast.
