Explore Limpopo
East of Polokwane, the Letaba is a forested, lush, mountainous area, contrasting very sharply with the hot lowveld and bushveld abutting it east towards Kruger and west towards Polokwane. It marks the first dramatic rise of the Drakensberg Escarpment as it begins its sweep south through Mpumalanga. The forest begins around the mountain village of Haenertsburg and follows two very scenic parallel valleys to Limpopo’s second-largest but missable town, Tzaneen. The valleys are filled with lakes surrounded by dark pine forests, sparkling rivers, misty peaks and, towards Tzaneen, subtropical crops such as macadamia nuts and avocados. With some very comfortable and beautifully located guesthouses, farm-stalls and tea rooms, hiking trails and trout fishing, the Letaba is in many ways an attractive, less-well-known alternative to Mpumalanga’s crowded highlands, although it is gradually making solid inroads onto the tourist route.
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The Changuion hiking trail
The Changuion hiking trail
A 10km circular historical hiking trail – the Changuion Trail – runs south of Haenertsburg through beautiful grassland and indigenous afromontane forest, offering stunning panoramic views of the Drakensberg Escarpment. It’s well worth setting time aside to do the trail, which takes roughly four hours at a leisurely pace. Look out especially for the blue swallow, Methuens Dwarf gecko and the delicate and rare Wolkberg Zulu butterfly. A map of the route is painted on the wall outside The Elm by the tourist office.
