South Africa
places you will never forget
The H2-2, Voortrekker Road iss the most direct route from Pretoriuskop to Malelane. 

The road passes a number of distinctive geological features as it descends from the mountainous Pretoriuskop sourveld into the rolling hills of mixed bushwillow woodland.  It is a good drive for accessing the game-rich plains south of Skukuza. 

That little terrier of  'Jock of the Bushveld' fame was born along this road and the first white rhino were introduced to the Kruger in this area.  The ruins of the structure where two bulls and two cows were let loose in October 1961 can still be seen standing.

During the 1960s, a total of 320 white rhino from the Umfolozi Game Reserve in KwaZulu-Natal were re-introduced into the southern Park and a further 12 were released in the north. Therefore one of the best places to view these animals is the Pretoriuskop area.

Voortrekker road follows a belt of sweetveld that intrudes into the western sourveld making it one of the better roads in the south-west for game viewing with the sweetveld beginning close to the foot of the distinctive Ship Mountain.

Josekhulu Drift is about midway between Ship Mountain and Afsaal where birding parties can often be spotted among the tall trees near the water. Josekhulu  got its name from Albasini’s induna, or headman, a large Zulu man known as “Big Josef” who was in charge of the area.  The site of a trading store set up by Thomas Hart during the 1870s to sell supplies to the porters who carried supplies from the coast to Pretoriuskop is close to Josekhulu.

Hart had a host of unusual pets including a cheetah, honey badger, jackals, parrots, monkeys and a couple of snakes which helped to stave off the loneliness of his isolated existence . In 1876 he was murdered by bandits and sympathetic Swazi warriors buried him next to the road.

Mitomeni Spruit, the place of jackal-berry trees, lies further down where the road crosses the Mitomeni spruit.  This was a point favoured by the outspan transport riders with the Leadwood tree that they used for target practice still bearing the tell tale signs of bullet holes. 


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