Mpumalanga is a province of South Africa, with Nelspruit as capital and 3,122,994 residents, according to the 2001 Statistics South Africa census. The name "Mpumalanga" means "the place where the sun rises", and became the new name for the Eastern Transvaal Province on 24 August 1995.
Mpumalanga covers an area of 79,490 km2 in the east of South Africa, bordering KwaZulu-Natal in the south, Swaziland and Mozambique in the east, Gauteng and the Free State in the west, and Limpopo in the north.
The main home languages of Mpumalanga residents are SiSwati (30.8%), IsiZulu (26.4%), IsiNdebele (12.1%) and Sepedi (10.8%)
The province motto, "Omnia labor vincit", means, "Constant work conquers all".
Geography And Climate
The Drakensberg Escarpment cuts through Mpumalanga and divides it into a Highveld area, consisting mainly of temperate grassland, and a subtropical Lowveld/Bushveld, bush savannah with particularly high temperatures.
The southern half of the Kruger National Park falls in the Mpumalanga Province.
Mpumalanga Economy
The climatic contrasts between the drier Highveld region, with its cold winters, and the hot, humid Lowveld allows for a variety of agricultural activities including maize, wheat, sorghum, barley, sunflower, soybean, groundnut, sugar cane, vegetable, coffee, tea, cotton, tobacco, citrus, subtropical fruit and deciduous fruit farming, as well as Forestry.
14% of Mpumalanga is covered in natural grazing that is used to produce beef, mutton, wool, poultry, and dairy.
Extensive mining of Gold, Platinum, Silica, Chromites, Vanadiferous Magnetite, Argentiferous Zinc, Antimony, Cobalt, Copper, Iron, Manganese, Tin, Coal, Andalusite, Chrysotile Asbestos, Kieselguhr, Limestone, Magnesite, Talc, and Shale occurs throughout the Mpumalanga Province.
Most of South Africa's coal Power Stations are situated close to the coal deposits in Mpumalanga.
Secunda is the site of one of South Africa's two petroleum-from-coal refineries.
A large portion of the Mpumalanga economy is tourism based, and relies on visitors to the acclaimed nature reserves in the province.
Mpumalanga Nature Reserves
The Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, previous known as Gaza-Kruger-Gonarezhou Transfrontier Park, is an international game park that brings together some of the best and most established wildlife areas in southern Africa. The park is managed as an integrated unit across three international boundaries and includes the Kruger National Park in South Africa, Limpopo National Park in Mozambique and Gonarezhou National Park in Zimbabwe.
Although the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, because of the inclusion of Kruger National Park, is the most widely known nature reserve in this area, it is definitely not the only one!
The Sabi-Sand Game Reserve is built up of numerous private reserves, including Chitwa Chitwa Game Lodge, Djuma Game Reserve, Exeter Game Lodge, Idube Game Reserve, Inyati Private Game Reserve, Leopard Hills Private Game Reserve, Lion Sands Private Game Reserve, Londolozi Game Reserve, Mala Mala Game Reserve, Savanna Private Game Reserve and Ulusaba Game Lodge.
The Blyderivierspoort Nature Reserve is another of the breathtaking nature reserves in Mpumalanga.
