This amazing week starting the 6th of July 2026 saw us climb into our little Jimny on Tuesday and drive down to the Nelspruit Botanical Gardens to take advantage of Pensioners free day and have a look around.
Kirstenbosch needs to take quite a big step backwards ... this place is very special. With its waterfalls and one of the finest manufactured African Rain Forests anywhere in the world it managed to elicit feelings at every turn that can only be described with one word: WOW!
RAINFORESTS & WATERFALLS (See more images below)
As we walked through this incredible park we could simply not believe the remarkable range of trees and plants that we came across. The atmosphere grabbed us every inch of the way - we will definitely be back, and more than just once I am quite certain.
Then on Wednesday we took a run down to the Jane Goodall Chimp sanctuary, 26 odd kms out of Nelspruit on the Barberton road that we had driven the week before, following the quite remarkable road up the mountain towards Piggs Peak and the Lesotho border - a drive that rattled my sense of vertigo virtually to the limit.
The Chimp Sanctuary, known as Chimp Eden houses roughly 35 abused chimps from all over the world, and learning about how they arrived here was both interesting and somewhat disturbing - their various characters and displays obviously resulting from a whole range of maltreatment suffered in captivity.
One very sad case hurls rocks at blonde women! Why? because during his captivity in Paris he was kept in a small cage except for when he had to perform in modern day clothes, which kept him upright - if he didn't perform his blonde handler would hit him over the head with a baseball bat - he recognised his mishandler as blonde and endeavours to hit her back with rocks hurled at blonde visitors each day.
Another trades toys found in the enclosure for food from the guide - a very definite activity bred from a need to survive in captivity.
Chimp Eden was a Jane Goodall initiative, and she visited it on her 90th birthday a little while before she died in 2025. Chimp Eden relies almost entirely on the entry fees paid by visitors to survive, so when in the area please make a point of visiting.
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