Attractions

The Panorama Route

One of the country's most scenic self-drives, the Panorama Route, explores the Mpumalanga highlands, or the north-eastern section of the Great Escarpment of the Drakensberg. In these rugged mountains the plateau comes to an abrupt and dramatic halt, falling steeply away into the Lowveld accompanied by incredible views out over the grasslands of Africa.

The most popular stretch of the route is the R532 that winds its way from the town of Sabie via a selection of graceful waterfalls - the Sabie Falls, Bridal Veil Falls, Mac Mac Falls - to God's Window, the Blyde River Canyon, Bourke's Luck Potholes and the Three Rondawels.

The Three Rondavels

These rondavels have had many names like the Three Sisters and The Chief and his Three Wives, which is a name given by the indigenous people who were living in that area.

Kadishi Tufa Waterfalls

Another treasure in the area is these waterfalls, which are the second highest Tufa waterfalls in the world. The Kadishi Tufa Waterfalls are known as the 'weeping face of nature' due to the waterfall personifying a 'weeping' face.

The Pinnacle

Admire a naturally carved, free-standing rock buttress at The Pinnacle Rock, a metamorphic rock fringed with vegetation arising from a forest.

God's Window

The Zenith of the Panorama Route, God’s Window is such a picturesque view point that it has been called “God’s Window”, due to the sheer natural beauty contained in one view.

Bourke's Luck Potholes

Go see the magnificent rock features called “Bourke’s Luck Potholes”. These enormous potholes have been carved by pebbles swirling around in the pools where the Blyde and Treur River meet and become one.

Echo Caves

These caves are some of the oldest caves in the world and stretch some 40km into the earth with some underground chambers that are more than 60m in height. The caves got their name from their stalactites, that create an echoing sound when drummed upon and can even be heard outside the cave system.

Waterfalls

Lisbon Falls

The Lisbon Falls are situated in the heart of the waterfall area of Mpumalanga, where the number of these dramatic falls exceeds that of anywhere else in southern Africa. Lisbon Falls is 94 metres, or 308 feet, high, which makes it one of the highest in the province.

Being located just north of Graskop fourty minutes away from Hazyview outside the popular Blyde River Canyon Nature Reserve, Lisbon Falls is convenient and accessible to locals and to visitors from all over the world.

Berlin Falls

The mighty Berlin Falls are close to God's Window, north of Graskop. A special observation platform has been built to view this natural wonder, one of the most spectacular along the Panorama Route. The Watervalspruit plunges down a cliff, 80 meters high into a huge green pool.

Being located just north of Graskop fourty minutes away from Hazyview outside the popular Blyde River Canyon Nature Reserve, Lisbon Falls is convenient and accessible to locals and to visitors from all over the world.

Lone Creek Falls

Situated an easy 10 minute drive out of Sabie and with beautiful indigenous forest, picnic facilities, a sandy beach and pool for swimming, Lone Creek Falls is the perfect day’s outing. Added to this, a network of walking paths allows visitors the opportunity to view the 68 m falls from every possible angle, and it is possible to find a quiet corner away from tourist crowds from which to enjoy the falls for yourself. Together with the indigenous vegetation in the kloof below the waterfall, Lone Creek Falls has been declared a national monument in recognition of its beautiful natural aesthetics.

Bridal Veil Falls

Another of Sabie’s gems, the Bridal Veil Falls are infinitely more delicate than any of the other waterfalls in the area and named for their resemblance to a the sheer veil of a bride’s wedding outfit. Water in these falls doesn’t plunge – it drifts gently over the rocky overhang in a fine spray that kisses the rocks below. A forested (and slippery!) pathway leads to a pool below the falls and then wraps around the base of the cliff to behind the falls themselves, and is great fun to explore!

Mac Mac Falls

Tumbling 70m in two double streams with water rainbows, white spray and a deep, dramatic pool, this is what waterfalls are supposed to look like.

This waterfall was originally a single stream, but gold miners blasted it with dynamite to divert the river in an attempt to work the rich gold-bearing reef over which it plunges.

Sabie Falls

The Sabie Falls is situated on the R532 on the outskirts of Sabie under the new bridge across the Sabie river. A short walk brings you to a viewpoint where the waterfall plunges 73m down the Sabie Gorge. The foundations of an old hydro-electric plant - from where Sabie obtained it's electric power in 1907 - can still be seen at the bottom of the falls.

Sudwala Caves

The Sudwala Caves are part of the Malmani Dolomite Ridge, in turn part of the Drakensberg escarpment, near Nelspruit in Mpumalanga. They are solutional caves – that is to say they were formed by natural acid in groundwater seeping through faults and joins, and dissolving rock. This most often occurs when the rock is dolomite rock and/or limestone. The caves themselves formed about 240 million years ago. They are the oldest caves in the world.

There are a number of speleothem structures in the cave, known by names such as the "Lowveld Rocket", "Samson's Pillar", and the "Screaming Monster"; some have been dated to 200 million years old. There are also microbial fossils of a cyanobacterium known as collenia in the rock; these formed 2000 million years ago.

The Panorama Route Interactive Map

To explore the interactive Google Map below, click on any of the coloured icons or the info icon to the left on the map's menu bar: