Blyde River Canyon “Motlatse” – South Africa
The Blyde River Canyon (recently renamed the Motlatse) is the third deepest canyon in the world (after the Grand Canyon in the western U.S. and Namibia’s Fish Eagle Canyon). It ranks as one of the most spectacular sights in Africa. This great Escarpment is the kind of place where brochures and guide books run out of original adjectives to describe the fresh mountain scenery and magnificent panoramic views over cliffs rising 600m-800m from the river bed. The entire canyon extends over twenty kilometres in length. The best perspective is, without doubt, by microlight.
Blyde Canyon cuts through the Drakensberg Mountain Range, one of the seven major mountain systems in Africa. The botanical wonders of these high altitude afromontane forests can be witnessed while walking some unforgettable trails laid out under the forest canopy.
Beneath the Canyon the Blyde River also yields the unique and critically threatened Lowveld Riparian Forest, which now covers only 100 hectares in extent.
The Blyde River is dammed at the mouth of the Canyon to create the Blyde Dam at Swadini. Enter the Canyon from the Lowveld (the bottom, signposted to Swadini), head to Blydesrivierpoort, and you can take boat trips across the Dam to the spectacular Tufa waterfalls, arrange canoeing, rock-climbing or abseiling activities, or simply hike into the great outdoors.
There is an information centre at the end of the road with excellent views over the dam; prior to this there are viewpoints and (approaching from Aventura Swadini), the waterfall trail up to the Kadishi Tufa is signposted around halfway along on the right, followed by a path down to the dam wall on the left.
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