Simon Seward/Notes/Personal/South Africa 2026

The family on the rock at Greenstone, Barberton, 2026

South Africa 2026

Category: Personal
Year: 2026
Where: South Africa
Route: Exploring Mpumalanga and Southern Kruger
Vehicle: Ford Ranger Wildtrak

Leg 1, stops 1–8Barberton to Hoedspruit, the Panorama Route, then Graskop.
Leg 2, stops 8–10Graskop back up to Hoedspruit, down through Hazyview to Mbombela.
Leg 3, stops 10–14Mbombela east to Malelane Gate, Berg-en-Dal, Afsaal and Skukuza, home to Barberton.

The Panorama Route

First time on the Panorama Route. It won’t be the last.

People talk about the Lake District. They talk about Iceland and Finland and the big canyons. Very few of them know that South Africa has all of it in one country, and most of it within an easy drive.

The Blyde River Canyon and the Three Rondavels from the escarpment — The Three Rondavels from the escarpment, Blyde River Canyon, 2026

We had fog for a lot of it. Thick, sitting in the valleys, coming and going all morning. Then it would lift for a minute and you’d see the whole thing at once and nobody said anything. The photos are useless. They flatten it. You have to stand there and look down and see how small everything is next to it.

We were with family, which made it. The wine cellar in the back was properly stocked again, tier one throughout. Braais most nights. A bit of rain, none of it enough to dampen anything.

Anna’s mum and dad above the river in full flow, Blyde River Canyon — Mum and dad, with the river up after the rain, Blyde River Canyon, 2026

Greenstone, at Anna's mum and dad's, Barberton — The beautiful Greenstone at mum and dad’s, Barberton, 2026

Hoedspruit, a little Christmas getaway, 2026

We explored Hoedspruit, which is a fantastic part of the world. The rains had closed the reserve there, so we didn’t get in, but Kruger made up for it soon enough.

Then southern Kruger, which I’d never done. It’s a different park to the north. Greener, busier, more of everything. Just as much game. We had lions, hyena and a leopard, all of them on the main roads, and the leopard on our way out of the gate. You wait years for that and it turns up on the tar on your last afternoon.

A young giraffe watching us from the bush at Greenstone — Greenstone, 2026

Three giraffe on the track ahead of the vehicle at dusk, on the new property at Greenstone — On the new property, Greenstone, 2026

We stayed at Greenstone too. Anna’s mum and dad have decided to move there, on the edge of Barberton, under an hour off the southern end of Kruger. It’s an unbelievable place. Bush all around you, hills behind, game on the estate, and the gate to Kruger down the road.

The gate at Greenstone Wildlife Estate, hills behind — The gate at Greenstone, Barberton, 2026

Sable in the long grass at Greenstone — Sable, Greenstone, 2026

We’ve taken a piece of land there ourselves. It’s signed. Our own patch of bush, in the country we both come from, next door to her parents. Real foundations instead of visiting for a fortnight and flying home.

Now we build. A lodge of our own, something that outlasts me, and somewhere our kids know as normal rather than as a holiday.

Watch this space.

Photographs, 17