Barberton

Barberton is a city of 12,000 people (2011) in Mpumalanga. It sits in the De Kaap Valley and is fringed by the Makhonjwa Mountains. It has its origin in the 1880s gold rush in the region.

Get in

By car

• From Mbombela, follow the R40 for about 45 km. It is about half an hour's drive.
• From Badplaas, follow the R38 for about 75 km, under an hour's drive through some of the best scenery in Mpumalanga.
• It 360 km (220 mi) east of Johannesburg.

By plane

The nearest large airport, Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport just outside Mbombela, is about an hours away by car.

By bus

A number of inter city bus services stop in Barberton

See

• Aerial cableway. This 20-km long cableway was built in the 1930s by the mining industry to carry ore between Havelock mine in Swaziland and Barberton. However in early 2011, thieves looking to steal metal from the cableway base resulted in the entire 20-km system collapsing. As a result there will soon be not much left of this artifact. 

Belhaven House Museum

• Barberton Local History Museum, 36 Pilgrim Street, ☏ +27 13 712-4208, fax: +27 13 712-4208, abornman@nel.mpu.gov.za. 9AM-4PM. R10 for adults, R5 for kids, free to students and pensioners. 
• Blockhouse, cnr Judge and Lee Streets (Behind the Museum). Open any time. Anglo-Boer War fort dating back to 1901. 
• Belhaven House Museum
• Stopforth House
• Jock of the Bushveld Statue
• The Makhonjwa Mountains around the city is a natural world heritage site. They are made of well-preserved volcanic rock from 3.6 to 3.25 billion years, when the continents started to form on Earth and there are also multiple traces of meteorite impacts.

Do

• De Brug Ostrich Farm, Just outside town on the road to Kaapsehoop, ☏ +27 13 712-5265. Tu-Su from 10AM. 
• 1 Songimvelo Game Reserve (Follow R40 south of Barberton). This reserve is in the Barberton Mountain lands and is the Mpumalanga Parks Board's largest reserve, extending over 500 km². The park was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2018 as the landscape represents one of the best-preserved successions of volcanic and sedimentary rock, dating back 3.6 to 3.25 billion years. The park is also home to some of the world's oldest rock art. Adult R50, children up to 12 yr or pensioner R25. (updated Apr 2021)
• Barberton Nature Reserve (at the foot of the Hilltop road, 15 km from Nelspruit and 30 km from Barberton on the R38). This 270-km² reserve protects an area of great landscape beauty and very high species diversity. The Noord Kaap River runs through the middle of the reserve in a wide valley with a steep escarpment on the northern side and lower hills Adult R25, children up to 12 yr or pensioner R15, car R5, combi R10. (updated Apr 2021)

Sleep

• Barberton Manor Guest House, 81 Sheba Road, ☏ +27 13 712-4826, fax: +27 13 712-3588, guest@barbertonmanor.com. 
• Chill Inn, 3 Kiaateres, ☏ +27 13 712-5055, fax: +27 13 712-2305. 

Go next

• The Jane Goodall Chimpanzee Eden, Umhloti Nature Reserve (about the R40 towards Mbombela, about 16 km from Mbombela take a right turn at the signs and follow the road for about 4 km), ☏ +27 13 745-7406, fax: +27 13 745-7406, info@janegoodall.co.za. 
• Visit Eswatini (Swaziland), Barberton is 42 km from the Bulembu border post.
• The Blyde River Canyon and Kruger National Park are within two hours' drive.