The Panorama Drive

Coming out of Kruger National Park, we were told we were off to the Panorama Drive as the route back to the city and the airport – and the sights actually lived up to the name! Sweeping landscapes of waterfalls, and canyon valleys were breathtaking! South Africa was so full of surprises!

This region is actually the Mpumalanga area, and it is dotted with spectacular stops and views. We saw just a couple of them on our return drive.

God’s Window was the first destination on this roadtrip back to Johannesburg, after a full breakfast stop at Graskop. This viewing point was the first glimpse of the Blyde River Canyon, and went on and on and on. The green, lush tropical-like foliage all across the valley is said to remind people of the Garden of Eden, hence the name of this viewing stop. Looking across the Lowveld, the mountains and valleys seemed to go on forever.

Lisbon Waterfalls were next on our drive. This is the longest, and most voluminous waterfall in South Africa, mainly because the lip of the falls is so wide. It's the highest in this region, at 94m, and pretty spectacular.

It also appeared out of nowhere, with the backdrop to this rocky shelf being a sheep paddock - a very rural, and ordinary scene.

The third largest canyon in the world, another vantage point within the Blyde River Canyon was the spot of the Three Rondavels - although our driver Eddie had just referred to it as the Green Canyon, after the vast Drakensberg Range coverage as far as the eye could see.

This breath-taking valley, with the Blyde River meandering through it and included the mass of the Blydepoort Dam below. It seemed to come out of nowhere, as the road had weaved along the outskirts of these mountain tops for sometime before we got to the viewing point. Rock formations making the unique shapes of each mountain-top and visible sediment layers which actually looked like a graffitied walls of colour, the mountain range went on and on, and was incredibly beautiful.