This village, in a picturesque valley of the Eastern Escarpment, was founded by gold prospectors in 1873. Its unique “tin and timber” buildings were originally intended to be temporary, but today – restored to their modest glory – they are a living part of history.
t The town’s distinctive “timber and tin” architecture
EXPERIENCE Limpopo, Mpumalanga and Kruger
t The Dredzen Shop & House
The entire village is a National Heritage Site. Historical displays and exhibits on gold-panning techniques can be found at the Pilgrim’s Rest Information Centre and Museum, and several small museums are housed in old miners’ cottages within walking distance.
At the Diggings Site Museum, visitors can try panning for alluvial gold, while the Pilgrim’s & Sabie News Museum displays hand-printing equipment from the 1900s, when news of the expanding goldfields was distributed to interested stockbrokers, prospectors and the Boer government. The Victorian House Museum offers an insight into the simple life of the prospectors, as does the Dredzen Shop & House, a typical 1930s–50s general store with the owner’s house at the back.
Stately Alanglade, a mine manager’s residence built in 1916, is a large Edwardian mansion located in a wooded glen away from the village. It is now restored and furnished as a period museum, complete with a rose garden.
Environs
Timber and tourism are the economic mainstays of the dramatic escarpment formed by the eastern Drakensberg Mountains. From the village, the R533 winds across Bonnet Pass to Graskop, a convenient centre for exploring the escarpment, and only 70 km (43 miles) from Skukuza, the main camp in Kruger National Park.
The R534, or Panorama Route, starts 3 km (2 miles) north of Graskop and passes cliff-top sites and lovely waterfalls. The escarpment drops almost 1,000 m (3,281 ft) to the Lowveld – among the most beautiful parts of South Africa – where the scenery offers spectacular vistas extending 100 km (60 miles) east to Mozambique.
t Beautiful scenery along the Panorama Route, just outside Pilgrim’s Rest
EXPERIENCE Limpopo, Mpumalanga and Kruger
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Eat & Stay Vine Restaurant Serves simple but tasty fare. ⌂ Main St, Pilgrim’s Rest ∑ thevinerest.co.za Crystal Springs Mountain Lodge Self-catering cottages in a small game reserve. ⌂ Robber’s Pass, 10 km (6 miles) E of Pilgrim’s Rest ∑ crystalsprings.co.za Royal Hotel Offers rooms with period furniture. ⌂ Main St, Pilgrim’s Rest ∑ royalhotelpilgrims.co.za |