If you are the sporty kind you could go tubing down Lone Creek, a quaint waterfall near the bustling town of Sabie

Mpumalanga!

It sounds like a battle cry, but it’s, in fact, the smallest province of South Africa. And, as I discovered, driving through it is a collection of breathtaking moments strung together.

The focus of my second trip to South Africa was to visit Kruger Park. I opted to drive, exploring Mpumalanga along the way. Most visitors fly straight to Kruger from the capital, Johannesburg.

The first 200km of the drive from Johannesburg to Dullstroom is nothing to rave about. But after that, you’ll be constantly taking pictures and posting them on social media. You have to because the region is so fantastically scenic that it will make you want to share it with the world. And this doesn’t let up. Over the next few days that I spent driving to Kruger I must have filled numerous flash drives with photographs in a vain attempt to capture this land on digital media.

The area encompassed between Dullstroom to the west and Kruger to the east is geographically blessed as this is the land of the Drakensberg Mountains with green valleys and rivers thick with fish. That’s why I spent my first afternoon fly-fishing at the Walkersons Hotel and Spa, a beautiful resort set in woodland with many secluded lakes where guests can fish in peace. I caught three trout in 15 minutes. It was the perfect wind-down after a nine-hour flight from Mumbai to Johannesburg followed by a four-hour drive to Dullstroom.

The next day I drove to Lydenburg and took the R37 highway to Graskop over the Long Tom Pass and the buzzing town of Sabie. Close to Sabie, on the old Lydenburg Road are three waterfalls —Bridal Veil, Horseshoe and Lone Creek — all stunning on a bright summer’s day. And, since they involve short but hard walks to get to them, relief is found on the road to Graskop where there are the Mac Mac Pools, idyllic natural swimming holes in a forest where you can lounge in the cool green spring fed waters.

The minuscule town of Graskop is a gourmet’s delight and the epicentre of taste here is Harrie’s Pancakes on the corner of Louis Trichardt & Church streets. They have a range of pancakes both sweet and savoury and a sunny patio where you can devour them all. But coach tours swarm this place during lunch hours so go either before or after.

I spent the entire next day exploring the R532 that runs north from Graskop. This smooth road running through the Drakensberg Escarpment also runs alongside the Blyde River Canyon which has natural viewpoints with inspired names like the Pinnacle, God’s Window or Wonder View.

Competing with this road with even more stunning views and lovely curves is the R535 going east from Graskop to Hazyview, a little town which is just 12km from the Phabeni Gate into the western part of Kruger National Park.

The charm of this part of South Africa is that you don’t have to go looking too far for wildlife. When I was staying at the Sabie River Sun Resort in Hazyview I would walk 200 metres from my room across the golf green to a little forest pool and see crocodiles trying to sneak up on baby hippos lounging in the water.

Keen to explore Kruger I was at the Phabeni Gate with my little Hyundai i20 at 6am sharp. Kruger has got such wide tarmac roads that I briefly forgot I was driving in a wildlife park and then suddenly a gentle reminder came my way in form of a 2.5 ton double-horned rhinoceros that stepped onto the road from the foliage.

Kruger also has unsealed roads that are smooth enough for cars and on one of these (the S10) I stopped at a kopje (a little clump of rocks) to take in the view and a full-grown angry lion stepped on to it and gave me a deep-throated roar that rattled the windows of my car and sent a chill down my spine. Apparently, he was telling me to get a move on because a lioness also coyly peeped out from behind the scrub on the kopje.

I spent my last two days in the Kruger area at the luxurious Sabi Sabi Bush Lodge in the Sabi Sands Game Reserve. This reserve has no fenced boundary with Kruger so the game moves as it pleases between the two. On the game drives here, with naturalist Jonas and tracker Issac, I saw an entire bouquet of African wildlife — lions, leopards, a brotherhood of buffaloes, plenty of rhino and some huge elephants at very close quarters. Sometimes in the morning I’d find fresh lion pug marks outside my suite that would add a deliciously eerie overtone to the entire jungle camp ambiance.

My final day in South Africa was an easy one at the Summerfields Rose Lodge in Hazyview. This romantic hideaway features comfortable air-conditioned tents strung out along a gently flowing river. The lodge’s spa is a canopied affair on the river bank and so instead of artificial lounge music I had the gleeful sound of the river as it tumbled over rocks and gurgled along to match the skilful ministrations of Melissa, my masseur.

It was the perfect end to my

Mpumalanga driving trip — like the lovely soundtrack that accompanies the closing credits of a feel good

movie in grand cinemascope, packed with drama, adventure and excitement.

TRAVEL LOG

Getting there: Emirates has daily flights from Calcutta to Johannesburg via Dubai while South African Airlines have daily flights from Mumbai to Johannesburg. You can hire a car from Avis, Budget or Hertz at OR Tambo International Airport

Where to stay: Check out www.walkerson.co.za, www.southernsun.com, www.sabisabi.com and www.summerfields.co.za