Another very hot day today with rain in the morning. Happy Birthday to me! I was serenaded with a Happy Birthday song on the bus! Very nice! Henriette went out of her way to give me a big hug and Stuart kissed me on the cheek. We left the hotel at 8:00 a.m. There was a huge thunderstorm last night which we all heard. Because it was my birthday, Bruce and I got the front seats on the bus today! We headed south and slightly west toward Pretoria. We climbed up the East Drakensberg Mountains which provides rugged scenery, endless forests, cool streams and impressive waterfalls. It looks like BC scenery except that the pine trees are all planted, so there are nice neat rows. We also saw the devastating effects of last year’s forest fires. Our first stop was at Wonder View about 100 M up the road from God’s Window – the same view, but we avoided the steep walk. Next stop about 30 minutes down the road was Bourke’s Luck Potholes which were formed by the joining of two fast flowing rivers. We had a bit of a walk down to the viewpoint but were well rewarded with the fabulous view. Next stop was Blyde River Canyon which was a gorgeous panoramic view of this very large canyon, reported to be the third largest in the world. From there we drove through more rugged terrain to our lunch stop at Dullstroom. What a great lunch at Harrie’s Pancakes – crepes, really, we enjoyed a combination of sweet and savory crepes – wonderful! Then we were off to Pretoria where we checked into the beautiful Sheraton Pretoria – WOW! Huge Christmas tree in the lobby! At 7:00 p.m. we went down to dinner and Bruce bought a few bottles of wine so that everyone would be able to toast my birthday.
Throughout the Mpumalanga hills and mountains exist hundreds of examples of San art. These rock art sites have provided a visual window through which we have been able to gain a better understanding of the lives and culture of these hunter-gatherers who inhabited the area centuries before the arrival of the Nguni people from the north. Then came the first of the Nguni people who arrived with herds of cattle, and mined red ochre in the hills south of Malelane. Around 1400 AD the second Nguni migration arrived from the north, to settle in this region with their vast herds of cattle. The creation of the Swazi nation as we know it today commenced at the time of King Ngwane. The movements of tribal chiefs through the region had a profound effect on the formation and bonding of nations. Most notable was the influence of Zulu king Shaka, whose empire stretched from the Swaziland border to the Tugela River in the south. Shoshangane, who escaped from Zululand and settled in the Gaza Province of Mozambique, was the founder of the Shangane people, while Mzilikazi, after being forced to flee Zululand to escape the wrath of Shaka, traveled through the region on his way north to establish an empire near Bulawayo in southern Zimbabwe. To the highveld, in the Steelpoort Valley, the Ndebele people settled with their herds. Historians have traced their arrival to the late 17th century. Thereafter, their history has been woven around an almost constant state of conflict, and it is to the credit of their leaders, even to the present day, that this small but proud group have maintained their language and individual culture. After Zulu chief Mzilikazi wreaked havoc on the Ndebele when he passed through their territory, the Boer settlers came from the west to claim the land and set up a government at Ohrigstad. The arrival of white settlers led by Andries Potgieter, between 1836 and 1845 heralded a new era in the history of the region. A Boer party, under the command of Hans van Rensburg, was massacred by Shoshangane’s warriors during 1836. Later, a Portuguese settler named Joao Albasini settled near Pretoriuskop, where he established a trading station on the Albasini route, to Delagoa Bay on the Mozambique coast. Conflict between Boer, British and the Ndebele followed, and for many years a state of low intensity war existed, until the Ndebele leaders, Mabhoko and Nyabela, led the clan in a determined effort to drive the settlers back to the Vaal River. They failed
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