100% Africa !

Have you ever had the urge to get in your car and just drive? Drive into the country side and just relax. Maybe pack a picnic basket, some divine cheese and biscuits, some wine and find a space in the sun where no-one else is around, where it’s just you, nature, the beautiful lush soft grass, the sounds of the birds chirping around you, the mountains, and peace.
When I think about this kind of drive, this kind of atmosphere, the first place that comes to my mind is the Magaliesberg. Depending on where you’re coming from, the drive to Magaliesberg is just a little over an hour, and then you’re in paradise! Stretching for 120km from Bronkhorstspruit Dam, which is east of Pretoria, all the way to Rustenburg in the west, and then they separate the Highveld grasslands to the south from the bushveld savannah in the north. The Magaliesberg mountains are among the oldest in the world, being almost 100 times older than Everest.
If you’re a mountain climber, or hiker, you can enjoy the deep gullies and wonderful kloofs created by the water runoff from the mountain. Some of these are more than 100 metres deep, and have perennial waterfalls of crystal clear water spilling over from the heart of the mountain.
Having mountain climbing enthusiasts visiting the Magaliesberg since the 1920’s, it’s one of South Africa’s main sites for climbing, and especially for the Mountain Club of South Africa, promoting conservation in the area, sparing it from abuse.
A now proclaimed World Heritage Site since 1999, Maropeng, which in Setswane means “The place where we once lived”, is representative of the wars that have waged on its soil. The Magaliesberg region is recognized as the birthplace of mankind, visitors are welcomed! The Cradle of Humankind Visitors Centre, has been awarded the Best New Tourism Project of the British Guild of Travel Writers.
Personally, I love driving through the mountains, then finding a nice quiet spot and just enjoying. Knowing that Magaliesberg was once the home of huge elephant herds, rhino, buffalo, giraffe, big cats and many species of buck. Private game lodges are re-introducing species back into the region. Sable, roan antelope, gemsbok, wildebeest, giraffe, zebras, and others have been seen in the Rustenberg and Sikaatsnek Nature Reserves. The other creatures that make this drive exciting and that you should look out for are creatures such as porcupines, polecats, bushbabies, dassies and weasels, roaming wild, and in the forest vervet monkeys, shy duiker and genets. And especially look out for the tree squirrels. All part of the adventure of a Sunday afternoon drive.
Don’t be surprised that you’ll find plenty of accommodation on-route, so if you find yourself wanting to plan a short weekend away, you can find accommodation of all kinds – from self-catering, to hotels, all with views, all with nature on your doorstep. But if you’re only looking for that drive with maybe a stop for a bite to eat, yes, that can also be catered for. There are plenty of restaurants tucked away in this beautiful part of the world. So what’s stopping you? Take a moment for that relaxed moment, it’s not something you’ll regret, in fact you may enjoy it so much, you may decide to take that drive far more often!