African Train Safari Destinations

Komatipoort became the depot and construction camp of the Dutch railway building company, NZASM, during the building of the Eastern Line. This frontier village lies 462kms from Pretoria but only 88kms from the sea. The village lies on the South Africa / Mozambique border in the Lebombo Mountain range. Beyond the border, the land falls away rapidly down to a humid, swampy coastal plain where interior rivers make their languid, indirect way to the sea. This area was under water as recently as 100 000 years ago and, with the average annual temperature never falling below 20 C, is a perfect habitat for Africa's greatest killer, the Malaria-carrying Anopheles mosquito.

Before the turn of the century, prospectors searching for gold and semi-precious stones scoured the Lowveld. Barberton to the south and Pilgrim's Rest to the northwest both enjoyed transient gold rushes during the nineteenth century. We now know that the alluvial gold panned in the rivers and streams of the region had been washed down from the largest gold deposit in the world - the Witwatersrand upon which Johannesburg sits.

The Lowveld's association with the South African gold mining industry continues to this day. For more than a century, thousands of Shangaans, and particularly those whose homes are in Mozambique have worked on the mines. The Shangaans or Tsongas populate the entire Mpumulanga region (Lowveld), which includes the Kruger National Park and parts of Mozambique. About 75% of Shangaans live in Mozambique and the remainder in South Africa. Shangaans, who have a reputation as a warm hearted, smiling people with a fine sense of humour, are also employed as trackers and rangers in the area's numerous game parks.

Labels: African Collage, Durban Safari, Golf Safari