Into The Mist

The Magoebaskloof area offers adventure activities and some great forest tracks within easy reach of Joburg and Pretoria

- Andrew Stone

I recently discovered that ziplining is a lot more entertaining when a member of your group is afraid of heights. In this case, that one person was a fellowjournalist who had our party of eight in stitches with his nervous antics as we “zipped” along cables high above the Groot Letaba River in the Limpopo Province.

We were in an area known as Magoebaskloof on a Chevrolet-hosted Trailblazer Adventure for motoring journos and their spouses. Also known as “The Land of the Silver Mist” because it is shrouded regularly in a soft mist, Magoebaskloof is a mountainous region that forms the very north-eastern tip of the Drakensberg range.

My wife Tracy and I attended from East London. Part of the package included an adventure activity, which is how we found ourselves on a slatted wooden platform high above the river’s turbulent waters with our acrophobic colleague.

For the next two hours, our guides, Vincent “The Champ” and Magnificent the… well, Magnificent, led us on a 2km Tarzan-style adventure as we soared over raging waterfalls and swirling eddies in the river below. It’s not that we needed the extra entertainment provided by our fellow journalist’s comical facial expressions − the scenery was pretty spectacular on its own. However, credit must be given where it is due because it was something to watch as he rose above (excuse the pun) his fear of heights and managed to complete all 11 slides, the longest of which is more than 100 metres.