Graskop

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Graskop
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CountrySouth Africa
ProvinceMpumalanga
DistrictEhlanzeni
MunicipalityThaba Chweu
Area
[1]
 • Total
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Elevation
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Population
 (2011)[1]
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Population
 (2011)[1]
 • Total
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Racial makeup (2011)
[1]
 • Black African61.2%
 • Coloured13.0%
 • Indian/Asian0.9%
 • White22.9%
 • Other2.0%
First languages (2011)
[1]
 • Afrikaans29.4%
 • Northern Sotho22.0%
 • Sotho14.8%
 • English10.9%
 • Other22.8%
Time zoneUTC+2 (SAST)
Postal code (street)
1270
PO box
1270
Area code013

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A street in Graskop
A street in Graskop

Graskop is a small town in Mpumalanga province, South Africa. It was established in the 1880s as a gold mining camp but it now serves as a tourist destination and the timber industry. “God’s Window”, a scenic view from the escarpment of the Lowveld below, is located outside the town. Graskop is 14 km south-east of Pilgrim's Rest and 28 km north of Sabie. The name is Afrikaans for grassy hillock. It is the best place to view the "Edge of the Lowveld", with a sudden drop of 700 metres.[2]

History

Rock paintings and other archaeological sites in the Graskop area indicate that people have lived in the area for thousands of years.[3] Evidence from an archaeological site 40 km from the town has been dated to show hunter gather occupation 27,000 years ago.[4]

File:Rock painting of a bovid in Mpumalanga South Africa.png
Rock painting near Graskop

Early ethnographical studies indicate that the wider Graskop area was inhabited by Eastern Sotho groups (Pulana, Kutswe and Pai), and the Tsonga people since before the 19th century.[5] In the 1800s, when Swazi chiefdoms expanded north into the lowveld, groups of Pai people fled to caves in the Graskop area.[5] Historically, diverse groups of people traveled between the highveld and the lowveld using footpaths along the route that became Kowyn's Pass, which connects Graskop to Bushbuckridge.[5] The pass is named after Pulana chief, Kobêng, who had a homestead halfway down the pass.[5]

In the 1870s, Abel Erasmus, Native Commissioner of the Transvaal Republic, owned the farm of Graskop. Following the discovery of gold at Mac Mac, the farm was bought by the Government of the Republic of Transvaal and settlers set up a mining camp at Graskop. Pilgrims Rest however remained a more popular and worthwhile mining site and there was not extensive prospecting and mining at Graskop in the 19th century.[5] Percy Fitzpatrick established a camp in Graskop in the 1880s at Paradise Camp.

One kilometer outside the town is a natural bridge, formed of dolomite that crosses the Mac Mac River. In the colonial era, voortrekkers and settlers used the bridge to cross the river with their wagons.[6]

The first trading store in Graskop was established by Max Carl Gustav Liebnitz in 1902.[5]

In the early 1910s, a railway line was built between the Graskop area and Nelspruit to transport supplies to Pilgrim's Rest.[7] Graskop was declared a town on 12 September 1914.[7]

Government

Graskop is a town within the Taba Chewu Local Municipality, which is within the wider Ehlanzeni District Municipality. The municipality is led by the African National Congress.

Tourism

Graskop has become a popular tourism destination. It is located on the Panorama Route, which many tourists visit to view waterfalls and vistas of the Mpumalanga escaparment. The town is close to the Blyde River Canyon Nature Reserve, God's Window, Berlin Falls, the Pinnacle and Bourke's Luck Potholes.[8]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Main Place Graskop". Census 2011.
  2. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Dictionary of Southern African Place Names (Public Domain)". Human Science Research Council. p. 187.
  3. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Maseko, Mduduzi I; Attwood, Simon; Hollmann, Jeremy C (April 2024). "Elephants In The Rock Paintings Of North-Eastern Mpumalanga And Eswatini". The Digging Stick. 4 (1).
  4. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Porraz, Guillaume; Val, Aurore (2019). "Heuningneskrans and the Stone Age Sequence of the Ohrigstad River Catchment on the Eastern Border of the Great Escarpment, Limpopo Province, South Africa". The South African Archaeological Bulletin. 74 (209): 46–55. ISSN 0038-1969.
  5. ^ a b c d e f Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Van Wyk Rowe, Christine (2022). "Specialist Report Phase 1 Archaeological / Heritage Impact Assessment For The God's Window Skywalk Project On Portion 2 Of The Farm Lisbon 531kt & The Farm De Houtbosch 503kt, Graskop, Mpumalanga". Adansonia Heritage Consultants.
  6. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Natural Bridge". Travel experience time. 20 September 2018. Retrieved 18 January 2026.
  7. ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Graskop: History of the town of Graskop, Panorama, Mpumalanga, South Africa". www.graskop.co.za. Retrieved 18 January 2026.
  8. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Graskop: Panorama, Mpumalanga, South Africa". www.graskop.co.za. Retrieved 18 January 2026.

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