The beautiful Lowveld area is a favourite holiday destination, with lots of natural wonders and historical venues to explore. Warm summers and mild winters contribute to the area’s popularity.
The Lowveld is not a province but a region, encompassing the eastern parts of Mpumalanga and Limpopo provinces.
Apart from the tourist attractions, the area also has considerable paddling potential. K1-paddlers are used to racing on some of the better-known rivers, and commercial rafting has boomed in the last few years. Kayakers have opened up some really challenging sections, and the region now caters for the whole spectrum of paddlers.
The Lowveld is not a particularly wet region, but it receives enough rain to make most of the rivers paddleable for the greater part of the summer. After a good season, some of the rivers can even be paddled right through the winter.
The paddled sections of the rivers are mostly of a creeky nature, and quite narrow. Most of the rivers go through stunning gorges and canyons, with excellent scenery guaranteed. Lush vegetation abounds, spicing up even the mildest runs.
Where the rivers flatten out, they become wide, boring, and also crocodile and hippo infested. Even on some of the generally paddled sections, these hazards may be encountered.
Strainers are a danger on some of the rivers that do not run consistently. Care should also be taken where rivers go through pine plantations. In some areas the pines are planted unlawfully close to the river, resulting in tree-blocks after floods or storms.
- Olifants River
- Elands River
- Crocodile River
- Sabie River
- Blyde River Canyon
- Letaba River
- Mutale River