To the Makhonjwa Mountains
the first bacterial structures. The very Archaeospheroides barbertonsis.
Depending on how deep you dive, you could spend the whole day exploring the geotrail. It’s one great big, beautiful geology lesson plus the profundity of the first life on Earth. It’s designed as a circular trail and most day trippers return to Barberton.
But we pushed on to Eswatini, and a week later returned via an even more beautiful and remote pass that leads from near the Oshoek-ngwenya border, runs along a spine of the Makhonjwa Mountains past Msauli village and Manaar, and then connects back to the geotrail. The mountain views along here are just exquisite. Hugh and I wholeheartedly agreed that this was one of the prettiest drives we’d ever done.
We returned to Bushwhacked Barberton, a peaceful place from which to consider mountains, life and early Earth. When Hugh left for Jozi, I decided to stay another night, and another, and ended up staying a week.
Like many small South African towns, Barberton has a faint air of collapse, but the people are friendly, the pace is gentle and there is a lively gold rush history.
And I felt connected. It was, after all, my ancestors, Graham, Fred and Henry Barber who struck gold here in May 1884. A month later, after the gold rush had begun, gold commissioner David Wilson came to collect claim fees and broke a bottle of gin over a rock, proclaiming it Barberton. There are still some members of the family who complain about the terrible waste of gin.
Barberton’s boom time was 1886, when its two stock exchanges traded day and night and dozens of canteens, liquor shops and music halls competed with the mines to make the greatest profit. It was a centre for wild speculation, gambling and fraudulent company promotion. Gold there was aplenty, but scoundrels outnumbered the honest producers. It is a shady chapter in the history of the South African mining industry.
I also spent a few minutes paying my respects to the statue of Jock of the Bushveld in town. Jock is arguably one of South Africa’s most iconic dogs, and the book of the same name tells the story of a man and his dog and their astonishing encounters in the bush while riding between then Lydenburg and Delagoa Bay. Jock ends up getting shot in Mozambique – which, some have argued, makes him an even more appropriate South African icon.
There are some lovely spots to stay in Barberton, both in and outside town. It has all the potential to be a vibey tourism hub, especially since it has such an incredible world heritage site and is close to the Kruger National Park, Mbombela, Eswatini and Maputo.