Mpumalanga
The escarpment, the Panorama Route and the southern Kruger — South Africa’s classic safari province.
Mpumalanga is the province most first-time visitors mean when they say safari. The southern Kruger National Park lies along its eastern edge, the private reserves of the Sabi Sand and the Timbavati sit against the park’s unfenced western boundary, and the Drakensberg escarpment drops from highveld grassland into lowveld bush in a single spectacular step.
That escarpment carries the Panorama Route, which strings together the Blyde River Canyon, God’s Window, the Three Rondavels and Bourke’s Luck Potholes. It is the most photographed non-coastal landscape in the country and it is on the way to the Kruger, which is why so many itineraries take both.
At a glance
How Mpumalanga is divided for visitors
The Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency publishes eight visitor areas:
- The Panorama — the escarpment, Blyde River Canyon and Graskop.
- Kruger National Park — the park itself, treated on this site as a destination of its own.
- Lowveld Legogote — the bushveld around Mbombela and White River.
- Wild Frontier — Barberton and the far east towards Eswatini.
- Highlands Meander — Dullstroom and the high trout country.
- Grass & Wetlands — the northern highveld and Chrissiesmeer lake district.
- Cultural Heartland — the western province and its heritage sites.
- Cosmos Country — the south-western grasslands, named for the flowers that fill the roadsides in autumn.
The agency also markets themed routes, including the Panorama Route and the Liberation Heritage Route. Those are routes rather than regions, and this site treats them as such.
Where most visitors go
The southern Kruger has the highest wildlife densities in the park and the best road network, which is why it carries the most traffic. Self-drive works well here: the rest camps are comfortable and the tar and gravel loops are suitable for an ordinary car. The adjoining private reserves offer guided game drives, off-road access and traversing rights the national park does not permit, at a much higher price.
The Blyde River Canyon is one of the largest canyons in the world and, unusually, a green one. The Panorama viewpoints along its rim are close together and can be driven in a day, though weather on the escarpment decides what you actually see — cloud sits on God’s Window for long stretches of the year. Graskop, Sabie and Hazyview are the usual bases.
The Kruger National Park and the Mpumalanga lowveld are malaria risk areas, with the risk highest in the wet summer months. Take current medical advice for your route and dates. The high escarpment towns are not lowveld and the risk position there is different — confirm rather than assume.
What kind of trip Mpumalanga suits
It suits a first safari, a combined landscape-and-wildlife week, photographers, and families able to manage malaria precautions. It is the province to choose if the trip has one safari in it and it has to work.
When to go
The dry winter months, roughly May to September, are the classic game-viewing season: sparse bush, short grass, animals gathering at water, cool mornings and mild days. Summer, roughly November to March, is hot and wet in the lowveld with thick green bush, dramatic skies, migrant birds, newborn animals and a higher malaria risk. On the escarpment, summer brings mist and waterfalls in spate; winter brings clearer long views.
Getting there and around
Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport near Mbombela is the practical gateway and connects to Johannesburg and Cape Town; several private reserves also use their own airstrips. Driving from Gauteng is straightforward on the N4. Within the province the roads to the Panorama viewpoints and the Kruger gates are paved, and self-drive is the normal way to see both.
Where Mpumalanga fits in a South Africa trip
It is the standard second leg of a two-centre trip: Cape Town and the Cape first, then a flight to the Kruger side for four or five nights. Building in a night or two on the escarpment before or after the park turns a safari into a more varied week, and costs almost nothing in driving time.
Official sources
- Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency — the official provincial tourism authority and the source of the eight regions above.
- SANParks — Kruger National Park.
Province → region → town
Where to stay in Mpumalanga
960 published properties across 40 destinations. Choose a tourism region, or go straight to a city or town.
Tourism region
Cosmos Country
Tourism region
Cultural Heartland
Tourism region
Grass and Wetlands
Tourism region
Highlands Meander
Tourism region
Kruger National Park
Tourism region
Lowveld Legogote
Tourism region
The Panorama
Tourism region
Wild Frontier
Destination guides
Six places in Mpumalanga now have a guide of their own. They are written to be honest about what each is actually for, including the ones that are service towns rather than scenery.
- Hazyview — the western Kruger gate base, between the escarpment and the park
- Graskop — the Panorama Route village on the escarpment edge
- Sabie — forestry town and the base for the waterfall cluster
- White River — small, cool and nearest to the airport
- Mbombela — the provincial capital and Lowveld service city
- Marloth Park — the residential township where game walks between the houses