After driving up and down the R532 a few times, I realised that one can safely divide the Blyde River Canyon into a top and a bottom half. The top half is up here on the plateau, but the bottom half - Swadini, the Blyde Poort Dam and Mariepskop - is down in the Lowveld and can be reached only via a 100 km detour over the Abel Erasmus Pass.
Most tourists, especially the overseas groups who step awestruck from their air-conditioned coaches, get to see only the top half. That’s fine, because the Blyde is all about views, and you can see them all from up here along the R532.
Graskop is the gateway to this route. Many visitors stop here for a pancake (what is it with the Panorama Route and pancakes?) before tackling the sights.
It’s rainy, so I settle at the Silver Spoon Restaurant for a flapjack breakfast and coffee.
The weather plays an important role here; a forecast that bodes “fog patches on the Drakensberg escarpment” might as well be interpreted as “stay in bed till 10”. You might stand at the Pinnacle viewpoint, with the enormous quartzite pillar hardly 50 m away, but if the fog is thick, you just won’t see it. And if God’s Window is fogged up, then the Lowveld down there won’t be visible either.
You’ll then have to entertain yourself with the graffiti scratched into the railings: Brad, Koos + Skenier, Claudio, Sarel, Bafana and even Eric Klapton have all been here. Thanks, guys.
The R534 branches off to the right just outside Graskop. It’s a loop road that rejoins the R532, and along it you’ll find the Pinnacle, God’s Window and Wonder View.
If, like on my first attempt, it’s misty here, you can head straight for the nearby waterfalls - Lisbon and Berlin. The mist won’t be such a big issue there.
At several of the view sites, very affordable curios are for sale.  

Even though it is nice to swish through the pine forests, the road gets a bit dull for a while along the R532. But then you suddenly leave the forestry area behind and the Treur River becomes visible to the right of the road, with attractive, rugged ridges all the way to the eastern horizon.
The Trichardt-Potgieter memorial is just a bit further on, also on the right. A group of Trekkers reached the Drakensberg escarpment here in 1844. Andries Potgieter and a group of men left their families behind and searched for a way through the mountains. Weeks later, their families feared that they might have perished and named the river where they were camped the Treur (mourn). They moved along and later camped at another river, where they were suddenly reunited with Potgieter and company – hence the new river was named the Blyde (joy).
The Treur and the Blyde join forces at Bourke’s Luck Potholes where neat bridges make crossing from one side to the other easy. There is also a powerful waterfall, which was roaring during my visit thanks to the good rains (during the first night in my little tent, lightning crackled above – I just held onto my Spork for dear life and hoped that it would earth me...).
There is a small natural history museum at the reception area of the potholes. It’s full of weathered taxidermy – even the five dassies look like they’d rather be someplace else. The place really needs to be refreshed.
Just outside the door there is a short but worthy lichen trail that teaches you some facts about these often overlooked organisms, which “bloom” all over the rocks here. If you’re keen for a stiff day hike, enquire about the Belvedere day walk at reception. It can be completed in about five hours and goes to the old Belvedere hydroelectric power station and back. Old? Yes, it was completed in 1911 and supplied electricity to the mines at Pilgrim’s Rest (30 km upstream along the Blyde from here). As a result, Pilgrim’s Rest had electric street lighting before London!
There is also a three-day route, the Blyde River Canyon trail, which starts at Paradise Camp (on the R534 loop near Wonder View) and ends here at Bourke’s Luck. It used to continue all the way down the canyon to Swadini, but this lower half has been closed for years - apparently for safety reasons - and there is no plan to reopen it. This is a real pity, because it means that a large part of the canyon remains inaccessible to hikers.

If you have time for only one viewpoint at this northern end of the R532, then it has to be the one at Three Rondavels, from where you get the iconic view of this South African landmark.
“Where are you from?” asks one of the curio sellers at the parking area while I browse her beautiful handiwork. “From Cape Town.” “Oh, so you are just visiting South Africa now. Are you enjoying it?”
“Yes,” I answer.
Tourists come and go. At the moment - midweek and midterm – there aren’t many South Africans. Two large fat lizards - from the Cordylus family - are warming themselves on a flat rock next to the lookout. When tourists come to lean on the railings, they just edge back into the shadow, reappearing as the people move off again.
A group of young Dutch overlanders are taking photos. One of the women stands on a boulder and jumps into the air - like a ballet dancer – while her friend tries to capture the perfect frame with the Rondavels as backdrop.
Their tired-looking, fact-a-minute guide isn’t impressed. “It’s way too much paperwork for me if something happens to you. Please be careful.” The tourist just keeps jumping.
The Blyde is quite a romantic destination. Besides the big bus groups, there are many couples – foreigners with a personal guide in tow or locals sneaking off while the kids are in school to coo at the pretty landscape.
“Are you stumbling?” I hear voices coming from a secluded path at God’s Window, when I drive back up there later in the day, when the weather improves.
“I’m laughing,” the woman answers.
“Are you laughing or crying?”
“I’ll cry if you laugh when I fall.” And so forth. 

It takes me two days of patrolling the R532 to photograph all the major sites in decent light. In between I go for some short walks. One morning I hit the Guinea Fowl route, which starts from near where I’m camping at the Forever Resort Blyde Canyon.
 It takes me three hours – at first gradually downhill to the Kadishi River (with good views of the Three Rondavels and also The Sundial, a smaller peak) and then along the other side of the kloof back to the parking lot.
Halfway along the trail, I stop to rest on a rocky outcrop. At my feet a fat ant is struggling in vain to free itself from an ant lion trap. A female Sekhukhune flat lizard runs towards me and launches itself 15 cm into the air to catch a flying ant.
The Blyde River Canyon Nature Reserve is not big game country. You must sit down and look at the small things here. Apart from monkeys and baboons, you’ll be lucky to see even a bushbuck. 
 While I admire the proliferation of trees (wild teak, stem fruit, hairy rock fig, Shakama plum, common hook-thorn, blinkblaar wag-’n-bietjie) at the bottom of the kloof, a purple-crested turaco flashes its red wings as it darts between tree tops.
I’m the first person on the path this morning and later I notice a predator’s track. It’s either a small leopard or a big caracal by the looks of it. I hope it’s a caracal...
In the heat of the day I cool off in the resort’s enormous swimming pool. You could hide the Titanic in here and you’d need a fishfinder to track it down again.
Four senior citizens - Germans - arrive. The men swim from side to side, like stately turtles, while the women read their books. In the building next door, a conference is under way and a fresh set of teacups is being set out. Behind me, a small river stirs and birds are making a racket that makes me think there’s a snake in the reeds.
The resort has its own lookout, World’s End. To reach it, just follow the tar road past all the chalets. I watch from there as the light drains out of the canyon at sunset. Voices approach - a group of labour inspectors from Thohoyandou, here for the conference. It’s their first time, and they pose for a photo in front of the gaping glory.
Down by the Kadishi River, the baboons are going to bed with a final few scolds. To the east, the twinkling lights of the Lowveld lie like another country. Tomorrow I’m heading down there.

Forever Resorts Blyde Canyon
It’s just 50 km north of Graskop along the R532 and all the major attractions on this side of the route can be accessed easily from here.
Camping. 30 stands (all with electricity) with grass and large trees (photo above). The two ablution blocks are clean, there’s a TV room and a laundry and everything is cleaned daily.
Cost: R65 per person plus R5 per stand (low season). During high season (all long weekends and school holidays except the winter holidays), it costs R90 per person plus R5 per stand. Children under 6 stay for free.
Chalets. There are basic units (starting at R465 for two people, low season) and luxury units (from R830 for two).
Youth hostel. If you want to bring the geography class on tour, the hostel can sleep up to 70 pupils at R90 per person self-catering.

 

Hike. There are three short routes (1–4 hours) that can also be linked together as a 5 hour walk.
Ride a horse. R120 per person.
And the rest. They also have a shop, petrol station, swimming pools, trampolines, tennis courts, Putt-Putt and conference facilities. The restaurant makes good food.
Contact: 0861 22 69 66; blyde@foreversa.co.za; www.foreverblydecanyon.co.za
go! says: The campsite is quieter than Swadini (and cooler!), but you don’t really have a view from your camping chair. Except of the vervet monkeys...

Blyde River Canyon Trail. This is a three-day hike that covers 30 km. Firewood is available for R10 at the overnight huts.
Cost: R99 per person for the whole route, half price for children under 16 (no under-10s may do the hike).
Bookings: 013 759 5432; betty@mtpa.co.za

Belvedere day hike. You must start before noon and return by 4pm at the latest. You don’t have to book, but clock in at the Bourke’s Luck office first.
Cost: R13 per person
Contact: 013 761 6019 (although their phone lines were stolen ages ago)
 

To reach Swadini – where the Blyde River Canyon comes to an end – you have to drive a long detour. The R532 north brings you to the foot of the Abel Erasmus Pass, and then you drive clockwise, in a circle, for about 100 km to Forever Resorts Swadini (as the crow flies it’s just 8 km from the Blyde River Canyon resort on the escarpment).
Swadini is actually the name of the mountain that lies in watch over the resort and the Lowveld, which stretches out from here towards the Kruger National Park.
The first thing that hits you at Swadini is the heat. This is proper Lowveld, so you’ll probably want to head for one of the swimming pools as soon as you can.
The resort lies within the lower part of the reserve and the tar road continues on to the dam wall, where you can get out and explore. Just two months before my visit, the Blyde Poort Dam was barely 60% full, but it is overflowing now. I lean my arms on the warm cement wall and gaze into the hypnotic thunder of the water for a while before heading back up to the visitors’ centre.
As at Bourke’s Luck, it contains interesting facts about the area and a whole lot of sad, sagging taxidermy – resembling a biology class display last dusted in 1980. There are short hikes here too (including a day hike up the eastern side of the dam through Hippo Valley – get a permit at the visitors’ centre), but the best thing to do is take a boat ride on the Blyde Poort Dam. It’s not a very big dam (the Gariep Dam is 138 times bigger), but it’s hard to beat for scenery.
Hennie Cronjé is our skipper and guide. We’re aiming for the Kadishi Waterfall at the top of the dam. It’s a so-called tufa waterfall that you only find where there’s lots of calcium. A tufa actually builds up the rock due to a reaction between the moss, carbon dioxide and calcium-rich water that creates a near solid calcium carbonate known as tufa. Okay, that’s enough of a science lesson.
We stop below the falls, craning our necks to see up the cliffs, which almost seem to bully the blue sky into submission. Next to us, white-breasted cormorants are drying themselves in dead trees, drowned when the dam was built. The Sundial (also known as Thabaneng, which means “small mountain”) is directly opposite the falls and the Rondavels peek around the bend of the canyon.
 There are crocodiles and hippos in the dam, but not many. We see three hippos on our way back towards the dam wall. Hennie tells us how hippos are responsible for the most wildlife-related deaths in Africa. Five minutes later he describes the hippos’ diet of plant matter such as sugar cane.
 A concerned Dutch mother gathers the guts to ask Hennie her burning question: “If they only eat grass, then why are hippos dangerous to people?”
 She must’ve had an anxious few minutes contemplating a hippo’s love for human flesh sandwiched between two layers of lettuce…

Apparently there was such a big baboon problem here at Swadini in the past that some of the leading troublemakers had to be shot. Hennie also tells me that the canyon is actually not as rich in birdlife as one would think, as a result of the regular plunder inflicted on nests by the large number of baboons and monkeys.
I love watching baboons. I spend a good half-hour watching the troop between the dam wall and the resort. It’s kind of like watching a SLVN-rated version of 7de Laan. There’s bickering, snickering, sneaking, slapping, pinching, barking, jumping, munching, falling, rolling, farting and a bit of “mixed-doubles” to boot.
 If you’d like to see animals from up close, then the nearby Moholoholo Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre offers two daily tours. Here they have anything from large raptors such as martial eagles to cheetahs and honey badgers.
Moholoholo means “the big, big battle” and is the name of the giant knot of mountain that dominates the eastern side of the canyon here, behind the Three Rondavels. In 1864, the Bapedi and the Mapulana joined forces to defeat the Swazis here. Captain Maripe Mashile of the Mapulana named the Three Rondavels afterwards - each carries the name of one of his wives. But it’s the highest peak that carries his name: Mariepskop.
 There used to be an air force base (opened in 1957) at the top, but today you can drive up its back slope to several viewpoints. It’s difficult to get there, as there are no signboards from the R531 (see below for directions).
Besides the views, there is also a day hike and an isolated picnic and camping area down by the Blyde River (you might need a 4x4 to get there).

Five days and a very dirty rental Polo later, I’ve seen the Blyde River Canyon from every angle. The top route is definitely the easiest. But Swadini is a must if you want to play around at the bottom of the canyon – rafting on the white water above the dam is the closest you’ll get to the heart of the place.
But that will have to wait for next time, as will Mariepskop (on the morning I wanted to drive up, the mist closed in).
The Mariepskop side is for those who want to steer away from the masses – the tour buses won’t come in here. It is gravel all the way to the forestry station.
Next time I’ll come and play here, in the wild corner of the Blyde Canyon.

Boat ride. On the dam costs R85 pp (duration about 2½ hrs). Book at the adventure centre (next to the swimming pool).
White-water rafting. Tackle the waters above the dam. It costs R920 pp for the day and includes a boat ride across the dam. Book at the adventure centre.
Contact: The Blyde Canyon adventure centre on 015 795 5961 or blydeadventure@lantic.net
 

Forever Resorts Swadini
This is the ideal base from which to explore Mariepskop (52 km), Hoedspruit (35 km) and even the Kruger (Orpen Gate is 75 km away). Camping. This is the Taj Mahal of campsites with 188 stands (with electricity) and 8 neat ablution blocks (also wheelchair-friendly).
Cost: R80 per stand (low season) and R40 pp (max 8 people per stand). Rates go up to R100 and R45 pp respectively during high season and stands go up to R140 each from mid to end December and also Easter Weekend. Children under 7 stay for free.
Chalets
There are all sorts of chalets – the cheapest start at R685 per chalet (six people) during low season.
And the rest.
There is also a tennis court, swimming pools (including a heated one!), restaurant, Putt-Putt and a well-stocked shop.
Contact: 015 795 5141 (office and bookings); swadinifom@foreversa.co.za;
www.foreverswadini.co.za.
go! says: Peek out of your tent at sunrise to see the Swadini cliffs aflame with the first light.

Plan B* (*B is for budget)
You can camp at the picnic site next to the Blyde River. There are only basic facilities – no warm water or electricity.
Cost: R12 pp entrance (children under 10 free) and R45 per tent per night. R12 per bundle of wood.
Bookings: Mariepskop Forestry Office on 015 793 2581/ 3 or 082 806 8430 (Winners Mashego).

(Note: Prices accurate in June 2009)