There are three main routes out of town when you decide to travel around while staying at our White River hotel. One route will take you back the way you probably came, which is to Nelspruit (Mbombela), one will take you through to the town of Hazyview and then possibly to the Kruger National Park, and the other route will take you to the Panorama Route and the forestry town of Sabie.
The Panorama Route is sold as one of the most scenic roads in Mpumalanga, because there are countless natural attractions to be found all along the way. While many would combine the trip along the Panorama Route with time in the Kruger, there are no rules relating to how you see the sights or how many of them you choose to see!
Most of the Lowveld of Mpumalanga is a nature lover’s paradise. And while wildlife certainly takes most of the glory, the waterfalls are a close second. There are more waterfalls in this part of the country than anywhere else and the one that you can’t miss seeing is the Mac Mac Falls.
Twin rivers plunging 70 meters to the gorge below, the Mac Mac Falls are now considered not only a national treasure but a monument and a wonderful tourist hotspot. The falls were not always divided, and their division is unusual as it was man made.
During the gold rush era, miners had very little care for the natural beauty of anything, when there was the possibility of gold beneath it. In an attempt to get at the gold reef over which the falls plummet, the miners blasted the rock, creating the two separate streams. Throughout most of the year, the falls are separate but during the rainy summers, with enough water, the falls become a single stream.
Finding this waterfall is relatively easy, even more so if you have a map with all the various falls marked off. Mac Mac is found about 13 km out of Sabie, on the R532. The falls are marked off on both the Sabie Waterfalls Route and the Escarpment Route. Maps should be available from the Sabie Tourism Office, as well as online.
Once you get to the falls, there is a small entrance fee which goes towards the upkeep of the area, that’ll need to be paid. Guests can then start exploring!
A path (you should wear comfortable shoes), will take you right to a viewing platform from which you will have a bird’s eye view of the falls. This is about as close as you will get from this particular platform and it is the ideal place from which to snap a few photos.
Below the falls, guests can take a dip in the Mac Mac Pools, where there is also a picnic area and a bird trail. The best time to head to the area has to be during the summer months, when the grass and vegetation is green and lush.
