Did you know that you don’t have to leave Pretoria to be in the Magaliesberg? On the map, the mountain range cuts through the suburb of Akasia and tapers off 200km further west, near Rustenburg.
Okay, it’s not as if there’s a mountain towering over the Wonderpark Chicken Licken. For the real experience you need to drive about 50km to the village of Magaliesburg, where the Bushveld rubs shoulders with the Highveld.
It’s beautiful here. In summer, during the rainy season, the landscape is daubed in more shades of green than a Plascon colour palette.
If you want to learn more about the Magaliesberg, Vincent Carruthers is the man to speak to. He wrote a book about the area, aptly titled The Magaliesberg. His farmWindhover is just outside Rustenburg.
The Magaliesberg range started to form a couple of billion years ago when molten magma welled up from under the bed of an inland sea and depressed its centre, raising the edges of the seabed into an elevated ridge. This uprising of the earth’s liquid core caused minerals like chrome, magnesium and platinum to be pushed to the surface. “Which explains the mining interest,” Vincent says.
He also tells me how the Magaliesberg played a part in the Anglo-Boer War. One of the major battles was at Nooitgedacht (the highest peak in the range, at 1852m) near the village of Hekpoort.
British troops that were camped under Nooitgedacht suffered a drubbing at the hands of Boer generals Koos de la Rey and Christiaan Beyers.
As is so often the case, the pressure from mining is at odds with the cultural and environmental value of the Magaliesberg, which is why Vincent is campaigning to have parts of the mountain range declared a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.
History and conservation aside, the Magaliesberg is simply a great place for a break. It’s so close to Gauteng that you can really make the most of a weekend. Here are 10 suggestions.
Magaliesburg Candles
I head over to Magaliesburg Candles near the old train station, where you can buy candles in all shapes and sizes. “The biggest drawcard is candle decorating,” Christine Banes tells me. You take a white candle, hold it by the wick and dip it in different-coloured melted wax. It looks like fun. “The men always say they’re not interested,” Christine adds, “but once they get drawn into it they usually get the best results!” Half an hour later my candle is bagged and I’m on my way to Rustenburg.
To the south you’ll find Kgaswane Mountain Reserve. One minute you’re driving past Tuscan-style cluster developments, the next you’re in the veld. The 43km² reserve is home to sable antelope and hundreds of bird species. It’s summer and everything is wet and green. I set off along the 2km Vlei Ramble, picking ticks off my socks every now and then. But it’s a small irritation. Few things beat a walk in the wild, especially when other people are sitting in their offices. Like Jack Johnson sings: “The wisdom’s in the trees, not the glass windows.”
Day visitors pay R20 per adult, R10 per child and R10 per vehicle.
There are 21 camping stands (without power points).
Camping starts at R20 per adult and R10 per child (maximum six people per stand).
There is also a cottage that sleeps 14 people: R500 per night for five people plus R100 per extra adult, R50 per child.
There are four hiking trails: two overnight trails (R120 per person) and two day trails.
The view from up here is exquisite. This is my final thought before I hurl myself off the edge of a platform overlooking a deep kloof. Luckily I only fall 10cm. Then comes the exciting bit: gliding 140m from one side of the kloof to the other.
I’m at Magaliesberg Canopy Tours and this is how it works: You get a pair of welding gloves, a helmet and a harness. The harness is hooked up to a zip-line over the Swartysterhout Kloof. And then you fly. Repeat nine times. I’m tagging along with some other tourists: Barbara, her friend Paulo and his parents Irene and Octavio. Paulo and Octavio are enthusiastic, but Barbara and Irene need a lot of coaxing. One of our two guides, Richard “Gevaarlik” Tshuma, is standing on the other side of the kloof and spurs us on. Barbara edges closer and takes a deep breath. Then it’s just hair flowing in the wind and a scream that could probably be heard in Polokwane. It’s a great 1½-hour outing for the whole family. Now for something at ground level…
Mountain Sanctuary Park is about 7km from the zip-line. It’s hot and I’m looking for a place to cool down. West Pools are about a 25-minute walk from the zipline – of which the first 10 minutes is a steep descent down a rocky slope. A stream is your reward. A footpath goes upstream. At the first pool a man stripped down to his boxers sprawls on a rock. “The pools get better and better the further you go, bru,” he tells me. Okay. Five minutes later I do reach an even better pool. Clear mountain water, deep and wide enough for a synchronised swimming team to do its routine. Keep you eyes open while you splash around: Maybe you’ll see duiker or blesbok or a Verreaux’s eagle circling in the blue. The clouds look threatening as I dry off. On my way back, baboons bark at one another. As I get into the car, it starts to rain.
Day visitors pay R50 per adult, R30 per child and R20 per vehicle (book beforehand).
There are 35 camping stands: R80 per adult, R50 per child (maximum six people per stand).
Self-catering accommodation rates start at R350 for two people.
There are three short hiking trails and two mountain bike trails.
ATKV Buffelspoort, about 15km away and 5km from the dam of the same name, is a monstrous resort that can accommodate up to 2500 people. It’s chock-full. The thunderstorm has moved off and tanned hunks walk around hand-in-hand with blondes in bikinis. Kids play cricket between the rondavels. At the outdoor swimming pool the waterslide is quiet, but the putt-putt course is a hive of activity. It might not be your cup of tea, but when everyone else is having such a jol it’s hard not to get into the holiday spirit.
Camping from R150 per stand for up to six people.
Self-catering from R365 for a rondavel that sleeps four.
“We try to make monkeys act like monkeys again,” says Joy Pirimukai, a guide at the Bush Babies Monkey Sanctuary. Bush Babies is about 7km from the Hartbeespoort Dam, on the R512 to Rustenburg. Joy says the focus is on monkeys from Central and South America, like spider monkeys, squirrel monkeys and capuchin monkeys, many of which enter South Africa as pets. Some can live for 50 years. “Imagine living with a three-year-old for 50 years,” he says. In total, the sanctuary looks after about 80 primates. On the tour you walk along boardwalks that crisscross the sanctuary. Children stare in amazement at the monkeys swinging from branch to branch and tree to tree. “I wish I had a tail,” says a little boy next to me. Before the tour ends we walk over the Bridge of Courage, from where you have a great view of the whole place. If you squint your eyes you could be in the Amazon.
The tour costs R195 per adult and R95 per child younger than 14.
It’s raining again. Hard. Luckily the turn-off to Monate Sitruskelder, or citrus cellar, is only 2km from the monkey sanctuary. I dash through the downpour from the car to the tasting room. Monate produces alcoholic fruit beverages, including concoctions made from oranges, minneolas and naartjies. They also make a mean mampoer. Marie Verryne says her husband Kobus started distilling in 1955 when he was 10 years old. Hmm. The tasting room opened its doors in 1999. Time to see what all the fuss is about. I take a sip of semi-sweet naartjie wine. It’s surprisingly good – I can imagine having a glass or two on a hot summer’s afternoon. With two bottles stashed in the boot, I head for Hartbeespoort. Coming from this direction you have to cross the Crocodile River, beneath Hartbeespoort’s own Arc de Triomphe.
(Pull in at Tan’ Malie se Winkel first and buy some biltong.) Vincent Carruthers told me about this monument: “The engineer who built the dam had it erected. The design is usually reserved for war memorials, but not this one. This is a monument to water.” Harties is a vibey place next to the dam with art galleries and restaurants lining the main street.
Buy biltong and droëwors for R185/kg.
Contact: 012 253 0778
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The Oxwagon Lodge
Tonight I’m staying at The Oxwagon Lodge – I’m going to find out what it feels like to sleep in an ox-wagon. The lodge was originally established in the 1980s by entomologist Professor Erik Holm, a resident of Harties. Five years ago, an Australian named Mark Turner bought the place. It’s a quirky spot to sleep; the beds are comfortable and Mark is jovial. What were those okes complaining about? The Great Trek couldn’t have been that tough…
R460 per adult and R230 per child under 12.
Contact: 078 075 0720
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Saddle Creek
I have to ask my guide’s name twice to check if I heard it correctly. I’m on the farm Saddle Creek about 3km from Hekpoort to go horse-riding. Mike Dakota is his name. No jokes. That’s about as cowboy as it gets. Mike swings up into the saddle. He’s riding Smokey and I’m on The Bandit… Sorry, my horse is called Tennessee. “Can you trot?” Mike asks me over his shoulder. “It depends on what you mean by ‘can’.” “When you’re ready I’ll show you an easy way.” We amble along, with Tennessee stopping often to pull at tufts of grass. “Don’t let her get too comfortable,” Mike warns. I try, but she’s a stubborn beast. Luckily for me she prefers to graze in the shade. I look around. There are no refineries or cluster developments blocking the view of the Magaliesberg here. “Let’s try a trot. Don’t bounce with the horse; squeeze your knees…” We trot-walk-trot back to the stables.
R330 per person for a 1½-hour ride, including refreshments.
Wonder Cave is not technically in the Magaliesberg; it’s more in the Cradle of Humankind. It’s about a 25-minute drive from Harties. Wonder Cave is in the same league as Cango and Sudwala caves. To get into the enormous cavern (in places the ceiling is 60m high) you have to climb down very steep stairs and ride in a lift. Stalagmites and stalactites abound. They grow only about 1cm every 100 years, I’m told, and the oldest stalactite is apparently 15 million years old. There’s even a stalagmite that looks a bit like the Virgin Mary, formed by a persistent breeze through the cave that prevents the drops of watery calcium from falling straight down. We also see formations that resemble elephants, florets of broccoli, cauliflower and… ice cream. It’s quiet when we walk out; even the cameras have stopped clicking. When you’re faced with the patient life of a metre-long stalactite, it kind of puts everything into perspective.
Entrance to the cave costs R60 per adult, R50 per pensioner and R40 per child aged 3 to 12.
If you have more time, explore the Cradle of Humankind, a world heritage site within day-trip distance of Johannesburg and Pretoria. Dig out the March 2010 issue of go! for more information. To find out more about the area, visit
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