LIMPOPO © for The2010worldcup, Besure Toalsogetoutoftown
© Lonely Planet 482 Limpopo If South Africa’s northernmost province sounds familiar, it could be from Rudyard Kipling’s Just So Stories, in which the curious young elephant treks to ‘the great grey-green, greasy Limpopo River, all set about with fever trees’. While Kipling’s pachyderm unintentionally gains a trunk, curious humans might, similarly, cross Limpopo to access Kruger National Park and stumble upon the less-visited Valley of the Olifants. The subtropical area packs in misty Magoebaskloof, where waterfalls crash in the forests, and mysterious Modjadji, home of rain-summoning queens and Modjadji palms (cycads). The mystique continues in the Venda region, a traditional area where a python god is believed to live in Lake Fundudzi, and artists produce highly original work. And that’s just to the east of the N1. To the west, attractions include the Waterberg, where the Big Five, the endangered Cape vulture and, yes, fever trees are found in the mountains. Heading north from there, the savannah gives way to the Soutpansberg, an island of biodiversity with 540 bird species, and secluded lodges at the top of steep tracks. Then the baobab trees appear, and the empty roads lead to Mapungubwe National Park, where the remains of a millennium-old civilisation overlook the confluence of the Limpopo and Shashe Rivers. With icons ranging from Mapungubwe’s gold-plated rhino figurine to ‘Breaker’ Morant, the second Anglo-Boer War folk hero, Limpopo is an extraordinarily diverse province. If one thing unites its tourist operators, including Fair Trade lodges and art or birding routes, it’s that they offer visitors something completely different.
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