Blyde River Canyon and the Panorama Route

One Of The Largest Green Canyons In The World, Cut Eight Hundred Metres Into Red Sandstone And Quartzite And Covered In Subtropical Forest Rather Than Desert Rock, With The Three Rondavels And God'S Window Looking Out Over The Lowveld, Bourke'S Luck Potholes Where Two Rivers Have Drilled The Rock, And A String Of Waterfalls Along The Escarpment Above Kruger · Graskop, Mpumalanga

The Drakensberg escarpment runs north through Mpumalanga and then stops abruptly, dropping eight hundred metres to the lowveld, and the Blyde River has cut a canyon back into it. What makes it unusual among the world's big canyons is that it is green - subtropical forest on red sandstone and quartzite rather than bare desert rock - and the Three Rondavels, three rounded peaks standing in the gorge, are the view everybody comes for. The Panorama Route strings the viewpoints together: God's Window looking out over the lowveld towards Mozambique, Bourke's Luck Potholes where the Blyde and Treur rivers have drilled cylinders into the rock at their confluence, and a line of waterfalls around Graskop. It is the road most people drive on their way to Kruger, an hour and a half down the escarpment, and it is worth a day in its own right rather than a series of photo stops on the way down to the lowveld.

Along the Drakensberg escarpment above the lowveld between Graskop and the Three Rondavels, on the road down to Kruger, Graskop, Mpumalanga, South Africa

The viewpoints and sites keep daylight hours with small individual entry fees - Bourke's Luck Potholes, the Three Rondavels viewpoint, God's Window and most of the waterfalls each charge separately, so carry small notes. GOD'S WINDOW IS OFTEN IN CLOUD, which is the single most common disappointment on this route, and there is nothing to be done about it except going early or coming back. The Blyde River Canyon reserve itself and the Three Rondavels sit on the escarpment road north of Graskop. CAR BREAK-INS AND ROBBERIES HAVE BEEN A PROBLEM AT SOME VIEWPOINT AND WATERFALL CAR PARKS, so leave nothing in the car and prefer busier times. The boat trip on the Blyde dam to the Rondavels runs from Swadini below. Graskop and Sabie are the bases; Kruger's Paul Kruger gate is about ninety minutes down the escarpment.

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