Nelspruit from Hazyview: Chimp Eden, Sudwala Caves and the Botanical Garden

Nelspruit is worth more than a fuel stop

Most visitors to the Lowveld pass through Nelspruit at some point.

These days the city is officially called Mbombela, although almost everybody still understands Nelspruit and you will see both names used.

It is the provincial capital and about an hour’s drive from Hazyview. For guests staying several nights with us, it can make a very good change of pace from Kruger and the Panorama Route.

There are three places in particular that we think are worth knowing about.

Start with Chimp Eden

Chimp Eden is the one we would plan around rather than simply arriving when you happen to be nearby.

It is run by the Jane Goodall Institute South Africa and lies in the 1,000-hectare Umhloti Nature Reserve, about 15 kilometres south of Nelspruit. It was established in 2006 and is South Africa’s first and only chimpanzee sanctuary.

The important word is sanctuary.

This is not a zoo that has acquired a few chimpanzees for visitors to look at. The animals living here were rescued after being orphaned, displaced, kept as pets or used in entertainment and other situations in which they should never have found themselves.

You visit as part of a guided tour and see the chimpanzees from viewpoints overlooking their large semi-wild enclosures.

The stories behind some of them are not particularly cheerful, but seeing what happened afterwards makes the visit worthwhile.

And after spending several days looking for animals through binoculars in Kruger, being able to watch chimpanzee behaviour at fairly close range is an altogether different experience.

Give Chimp Eden enough time

Tours take place at set times, so this is one attraction where we would check the current schedule and book before setting off.

Do not try to squeeze it between two other appointments.

Listen to the guide.

Watch the animals for a while.

Chimpanzees have an extraordinary way of making you forget that you were planning to leave.

Then there is the Botanical Garden

Lowveld National Botanical Garden is one of those places that is much better than the words *botanical garden* sometimes suggest.

It is not simply a collection of labelled flower beds.

The Crocodile and Nels rivers run through the property and form waterfalls before meeting within the garden. There is indigenous forest, subtropical vegetation, cycads, fig trees, riverside walks and an aerial pedestrian bridge across the Crocodile River.

It feels much more like walking through a piece of the Lowveld than visiting a formal city garden.

Do not rush through it

You can see some of the garden quickly.

We would not.

Walk down towards the river.

Cross the bridge.

Find the waterfall viewpoints.

Then sit somewhere for a while.

The garden contains both landscaped areas and large sections that have been left natural, which is probably why it never feels too manicured.

It is also a particularly good option on a day when you want to be outside but another six hours in a safari vehicle feels ambitious.

There comes a point on some holidays when your back is entitled to an opinion.

And then there is Sudwala

Sudwala Caves is in a different direction, northwest of Nelspruit, and from Hazyview you should allow roughly an hour and a half to get there.

The caves are ancient --- generally described as among the oldest known cave systems in the world --- and the standard guided visit takes you through enormous chambers filled with stalactites, stalagmites and other formations built up over an almost incomprehensible length of time.

The normal tour takes about an hour and does not require you to crawl through tiny spaces.

That is useful information.

Not everybody wakes up on holiday hoping to become temporarily stuck in a mountain.

There is a more adventurous version

There is also a much more demanding Crystal Tour for people who consider words such as *crawl*, *clamber* and *wade* encouraging rather than threatening.

That takes you much deeper into the cave system to a crystal chamber and needs to be arranged in advance.

For most of our guests, the normal cave tour is more than enough.

You still get the huge caverns and extraordinary formations.

And you emerge looking much the same as when you went in.

Should you do all three in one day?

You could.

We would not.

The problem is not the attractions themselves. It is geography.

Chimp Eden is south of Nelspruit.

The Botanical Garden is in the city.

Sudwala is well to the northwest.

Trying to tick all three off in one day means spending rather too much of the day looking through a windscreen.

There is no medal at dinner for having visited the most attractions.

Our favourite Nelspruit day

We would combine Chimp Eden and the Botanical Garden.

Have breakfast at The Zarafa and head towards Nelspruit.

Book one of the Chimp Eden tours.

Spend the rest of the day slowly making your way back through the city, with lunch and the Botanical Garden afterwards.

If you need to do any shopping, buy something you forgot to pack or deal with the practical bits of a longer South African trip, Nelspruit is also the sensible place to do it.

Then come back to Hazyview.

Pool.

Shower.

Dinner.

That is a full enough day.

Give Sudwala a day of its own

Sudwala works particularly well as a separate half-day trip.

It can also be a very good stop if you are travelling between Johannesburg and The Zarafa, depending on your route and how much time you have.

The caves are close enough to make a dedicated outing worthwhile, but far enough away that we would not treat them as something to squeeze in after lunch because you suddenly have a spare hour.

Go there deliberately.

It is much more enjoyable that way.

Which one would we choose?

If you have never seen chimpanzees before, Chimp Eden.

It is unusual, memorable and there is nowhere else in South Africa quite like it.

If you want a peaceful afternoon, the Botanical Garden.

It is beautiful, easy and requires very little effort from you.

If geology, caves or the sheer age of the earth fascinates you, Sudwala.

Or stay another night and do all three properly.

We are unlikely to object.

What if the weather is poor?

This is where Sudwala becomes rather useful.

Rain can spoil some Lowveld plans.

It has considerably less influence on a cave.

The Botanical Garden is best when you can walk comfortably, while Chimp Eden involves outdoor viewing too, so check the day’s weather before deciding how to arrange things.

One advantage of staying in Hazyview for several nights is that you do not have to decide the entire holiday before you arrive.

We can look at the weather and move things around.

Is Nelspruit worth including if you already have Kruger and the Panorama Route?

For a two-night stay, probably not.

There is already enough to do.

For three nights, it depends on what interests you.

For four or five nights, certainly.

Kruger gives you wildlife.

The Panorama Route gives you the escarpment.

Nelspruit and its surroundings give you something different again: chimpanzees, subtropical gardens, rivers, waterfalls and caves hundreds of millions of years old.

You do not have to choose a single version of the Lowveld.

Our answer

Nelspruit is not the reason most people come to this part of South Africa.

That does not mean it should be ignored.

Go to Chimp Eden because it is unlike almost anything else you will do here.

Walk through the Botanical Garden because it is beautiful.

Visit Sudwala because standing inside something that old does put the length of your holiday into perspective.

Then drive back to The Zarafa.

There should still be time for the pool before dinner.