Meyerton, Southern Gauteng

Essentially a rural area, Meyerton is a little town that lies south of Johannesburg falling into an area known as the Vaal Triangle - a roughly triangular locale bounded by Vereeniging, Vanderbijlpark and Sasolburg - although Meyerton, which lies just north of Vereeniging, is included in this area. Together they form a substantial urban region that straddles the Vaal River and is home to some major industry - Sasol and ISCOR’s (now known as Mittal Steel) processing facilities lie out here.

Meyerton came into existence with the discovery of the ‘Black Reef’ - a vein of gold that ran through a number of farms out here on the banks of the Klip River. There is a distinctly rural feel to this part of the country. Just outside of Johannesburg one might be, but there is immediately a sense of having escaped the confines of city living, and the access to both the Klip River and the Vaal Dam, a very popular weekend haunt, makes it that much more enticing.

The Vaal Dam is a body of water larger than Luxembourg, about 56 kilometres south of Johannesburg, that straddles the Free State, North West, Gauteng and Mpumalanga provinces. It has a catchment area of 38 500 kms? and supplies water to the area that generates more than 50% of South Africa’s gross geographical product. It’s an important dam in other words, and is also a popular water playground.

Suikerbosrand Nature Reserve, which covers close to 12 000 hectares of land, lies just outside Heidelberg, a little further east from Meyerton. The beautiful reserve provides ample hiking opportunities in the shadow of the Suikerbosrand Mountain Range that forms the backbone of the reserve.