Description: The Blyde River Canyon is the third largest canyon in the world. Located just west of Kruger park, It's a mountainous area of beautiful scenery. The edge of this scenic area is a sharp escarpment where the higher plateau drops off dramatically to the lowveld area of Kruger.
The tourism authorities have developed a Panorama Route which takes you to the most scenic overlooks in the area.
We traversed the Panorama route in the opposite direction of most people. Coming from the Kruger Park Orpen gate, we began in the north and spent most of a day sightseeing, winding up in Graskop for the night.
As we approach from the east, we could see the abrupt cliff of the escarpment. The fun part of the drive begins as we start the drive up the 2000 foot rise from the river valley floor. Following the twisting highway up into the pink and green cliffs provides wonderful views of the rock face ahead and the valley below. But I did watch the road pretty closely --- S. Africa doesn't see any need for guard rails.
After a short tunnel, we cross the pass into the Blyde River Canyon area. From here, it isn't that many miles to our eventual destination of Graskop, but, with stops at scenic overlooks and souvenir shopping, it takes a few hours.
Between the tunnel in the north and Graskop in the south, there are a few primary scenic overlooks. Each is signposted, although a few signs were only in Afrikaans, not English, so you had to know that "Drei Rondavels" was the "Three Rondavels," for example). From the north, the first such overlook you come to is "Three Rondavels". This features three huge cylindrical pillars of stone with pointed tops that make them look somewhat like the local thatch-roofed houses called rondavels. Even without them, the overlook across the valley is stunning.
Another primary stop on the Panorama route is Bourke's Luck Potholes. Named after a pioneering gold prospector, the potholes are cylindrical holes in the stone river base caused by long-duration erosion. Bourke's Luck is the only one of the stops on the Panorama route that charges admission (20 rand). It's an official park with a small visitors center and a snack shack where you can grab a quick bite to eat. The day we were there is was very crowded with schoolkids on an end-of-term field trip. You take a short hike along the rivers to the actual potholes. Around the potholes, the riverbanks are all solid stone with gullies carved into them, and a series of small waterfalls. It's fun to walk along the rocks and try to keep from falling in the water, or just sit and enjoy the scenery.
"God's window" is another scenic overlook looking over the low plains to the south straight down the rim of the escarpment.
The final sight, the Pinnacle, a solitary stone island, is near God's window, just a couple kilometers out of Graskop.
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