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Gateway to the great
north – that’s Polokwane. The capital of Limpopo
province, this city is a vibrant mix of people and culture,
and is a stepping stone to the province’s legendary bushveld
and mountain hotspots. The name Polokwane means 'place of peace',
and this is a friendly, fast-developing city. Polokwane has
wide, jacaranda-lined streets, leafy suburbs and a wonderful
climate. The capital city of Limpopo has attractions and entertainment
galore to offer the intrepid traveler. The Polokwane Game Reserve
is an ecological jewel on the city’s doorstep. Here you
can go on a self-drive adventure or a guided tour to see game
like antelope, rhino and tsessebe. It is only a few hours’
drive to the Kruger National Park.
Kickstart your cultural outing at Polokwane Art Museum in the
Library Gardens Complex. The museum has an extensive indoor
and outdoor collection, reflecting some of the country’s
best artists. Nearby, the Hugh Exton Photographic Museum has
some 20 000 black-and-white photographs from the 1890s showing
life as it was back then – from bodices to ox wagons and
acacia trees. Perhaps the most famous spot in Polokwane is Irish
House, a late-Victorian shop building that is currently undergoing
renovations for 2010. The new and dynamic exhibition will show
the different cultures of the province. |
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For something completely different, book a guided tour to the
home of Amarula liqueur to see how this unique drink is made.
Enjoy the atmosphere of a good old-fashioned village pub at
the Iron Crown in the nearby mountain hamlet of Haenertsburg,
or head for the Ranch Hotel, where you can get up close and
personal with a pride of lions and then enjoy a hearty meal
outdoors.
The mountainous areas around Polokwane are popular amongst mountain
bikers and you can arrange to go on a guided mountain bike trail
through the Kruger National Park. The northern Drakensberg mountains
and Magoebaskloof areas also offer excellent hiking, along with
outdoor activities such as mountain biking, horse-riding and
- for the more adventurous - abseiling, quad-biking and white
water tubing.
How to get here ( Search
the Cheapest Flights
)
Polokwane International Airport by air, otherwise main roads
connect the city to the rest of the country.
Around
the area
Famed for its forests, waterfalls and rivers full of trout,
the picturesque mountain hamlet of Haenertsburg is an easy drive
from Polokwane. The Iron Crown rises into the sky above the
village – this peak is the highest point in Limpopo and
is also the name of the local pub. Eat pancakes, stroll around
pretty public gardens and take a sundowner cruise on the Ebenezer
Dam.
Attractions
Bakone Malapa, Limpopo.
Regarded as a living museum, the Bakone Malapa Museum near Polokwane
is one of several museums and national monuments that bear testimony
to South Africa’s peoples. The Bakone Malapa, where tribesmen
practise long-standing traditions to enlighten visitors about
the traditions of Africa’s people, is one of two similar
museums in Limpopo - the other is the Tsonga open-air Museum
near Tzaneen.
Bakone Malapa is a reconstructed village in the style used by
the northern Sotho about 250 years ago designed to demonstrate
the daily life of the Bakone, a highly sophisticated subgroup
of the northern Sotho tribe. The cultural village includes two
homesteads or lapas that display and explain fire making, maize
grinding and beer brewing as they would have been carried out
years ago. There are also handcraft demonstrations that include
pottery, basketry and bead work and most of these locally-made
crafts are then sold from the local craft shop.
The guides are all excellent story tellers and the village’s
architectural and cultural styles come alive through their eyes
as they take one through the village’s traditional way
of life. But the museum is more than a cultural village alone.
There is a bird sanctuary, a game reserve, hiking trails and
outdoor recreation areas.
Makapansgat Valley,
Limpopo.
A basin rich in magnificence and biodiversity, the Makapansgat
Valley displays some of the most astounding beauty in Limpopo.
Not only is it of interest to paleontologists - numerous caves
in the Makapansgat valley hold fossils that date back to 3.3
million years before the present, linking directly to the history
at the Cradle of Humankind, when the valley was a tropical paradise
- but it also displays an incredible diversity of life.
This series of caves together form a national monument and intentions
are that it should soon become a World Heritage Site. Primates
in the shape of baboons and vervet monkeys make this their playground,
whilst bush babies or galagos come out at night to forage for
food. Like our forefathers, whose remains have been found in
the Makapansgat catchment, these primates find a good supply
of plant food in the form of seeds, tubers, fruits and berries.
Nowhere is the biodiversity of early times in such rich display
as in the caves of the Makapansgat Valley.
The hills surrounding the Makapansgat valley are dotted with
caves. Many of these are silting up or filled up long ago and
are re-opened by local quarries in search of limestone. During
one such search during mining operations in the 1920s, a large
number of fossil bones were blown out of a particularly large
cave in the area. It was not fully investigated until 1947,
when it was confirmed that there were remains of Australopithecus
africanus or early man.
Modjadji Cycad Reserve,
Limpopo.
High in the Lobedu Mountains near Duiwelskloof and situated
next to the home of the fabled rain queen, lies the Modjadji
Cycad Reserve, boasting some of the oldest and largest Cycad
specimens on earth.
The 530 hectare Modjadji Nature Reserve, situated in the Bolobedu
district of Lebowa, north-east of Duiwelskloof, contains one
of the most fascinating population of plants seen in South Africa.
Once the main diet of the prehistoric mammal-like reptiles that
lived here, the Modjadji cycad (Encephalartos transvenosus)
forms a unique natural forest which can be viewed in its prehistoric
state thanks to its strict protection by succeeding generations
of Modjadji ('rain queens'), the hereditary rulers in the area.
It is here that visitors can view the largest concentration
of a single cycad species in the world. These protected plant
species not only grow in profusion in the area, but are giants
in the genus of 29 species, with specimens up 1,013 metres high,
and bearing cones that may weigh up to 34 kg.
December to February sees many of these strange plants in seed.
The setting is superb. When mist does not obscure the view,
the visitor gazes over the cycad forest to the Lowveld and the
Kruger National Park. Approximately 12 km of well constructed
walks drop from the cycad forest to the acacia and grassveld
below where large game such as blue wildebeest, waterbuck, nyala,
impala and bushbuck, and over 170 species of birds live.
Polokwane Game Reserve, Limpopo.
Bordering the city of Polokwane in Limpopo, the Polokwane Game
Reserve is possibly one of the finest on which to cut your teeth
if you’re new to the pursuit of game viewing mainly because
of its proximity to Johannesburg - it’s roughly three
hours’ drive - but also because its size is such that
one can view quite a bit within an afternoon.
One of the biggest municipal-owned game reserves in South Africa,
the Polokwane Game Reserve’s main attraction must be the
amount of ground one can cover on foot - there are a number
of walks, including a one-day 20 kilometre hiking trail with
overnight accommodation. Even more exciting are the frequent
sightings of white rhino and other game - 21 species in all.
One of the most important aspects of the Polokwane Game Reserve
is that it conserves the Pietersburg Plateau false grassland,
one of the only remaining examples of an extremely localised
vegetation type that is home to important indigenous birds like
the short-clawed lark, the ashy tit and the Kalahari scrub-robin.
This habitat is characterised by open savannah and almost entirely
dominated by themeda grass with the odd smattering of acacia
trees. Because most of the Pietersburg Plateau false grassland
has been transformed by agriculture, the only enduring examples
are found in and around the Polokwane Nature Reserve.
The climate here is superb and the addition of a rather exciting
aloe forest on the northern slope of a low ridge makes the Polokwane
Nature Reserve an exciting park in which to walk - make sure
that you set off early morning to beat the heat.
Wolkberg
Wilderness Area, Limpopo.
Lying just off the R71 outside Haenertsburg where the Drakensberg
meets the Strydpoort Mountains, the Wolkberg Wilderness Area
is a selected few hikers’ idea of bliss - the tracks through
the awe-inspiring 22 000 hectare piece of paradise are pretty
indistinct, meaning that a hiker can choose his own strenuous
route and the number of days he spends bisecting the wilderness
with his pack, staff and boots - although setting out alone
through this particular wilderness is strongly discouraged.
The Wolkberg Wilderness Area has as its fulcrum the incredible
Wolkberg, part of both the Drakensberg and Strydpoort ranges.
You have to know your stuff to venture forth here: the remoteness
and the sheer splendour of the krantzes, kloofs and challenging
streams; the densely forested ravines and magnificent scenery,
together make this not only incredibly beautiful but also incredibly
tough. Weather changes within minutes, quartzitic cliffs like
the Serala, Steilkoop and Tandberg (sometimes called the knuckles
or the apostles) are an exertion for even fit hikers. And if
you’re venturing onto the route from the Serala plateau
over Kruger se Neus, through Wonderwoud Forest, then you’ll
need rock climbing skills to boot!
But the sheer mountain splendour and mystery of the mist-covered
mountains is worth any amount of exertion. Some describe the
Wolkberg Wilderness and its inspiring ravines, valleys, incredible
forests filled with wild fig, lemonwood, real yellowwoods, wild
peach and Cape beech trees, clear rivers, waterfalls, and rough
mountain peaks as reminiscent of the South American Andes. In
one respect they are not wrong - this is a back packer destination
of note.
Zion City at Moria, Polokwane
The largest Christian gathering in South Africa happens twice
a year at Zion City, Moria near Polokwane at Easter and again
for the September festival. The Zion Christian Church’s
headquarters are at Zion City Moria (not to be confused with
the underground city, mines and connected tunnels that run through
the Misty Mountains in Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings). This
Moria, about 25 kilometres east of Polokwane, is the seat of
the Zion Christian church - an entirely black denomination with
over four million members formed in 1910 by Engenas Lekganyane
- an indigenous church to Africa that is one of the only churches
not established by evangelists from abroad.
The worship of the lord over Easter is zealously attended, and
members use whatever mode of transport they can find to get
there - some come by donkey cart, others by bicycle, bus, car,
taxi, train and on foot. Spoornet apparently runs a number of
20-coach high speed passenger trains the 380 kilometres between
Johannesburg and Polokwane, whilst the church hires thousands
of 100-passenger buses for its members. This is the time of
year to avoid the N1 and the R101 from Johannesburg, as they
are congested with participants who spend three days worshipping
in the open, as the building at Moria is ill-equipped to cope
with the numbers of people that swell its ranks.
The Star of David is the symbol of the ZCC and the two congregations
that make up the church are today led by the grandsons of its
founder - Barnabas Lekganyane and Saint Engenas Lekganyane.
The ZCC is characterised by the emphasis it places on faith
healing, purification rites, dancing, night communion, river
baptism, the holy spirit, taboos and prophesying. The ZCC has
members in every country in Africa, and in most countries of
the Middle East. |
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