The Midlands area has been endowed by nature with a number of waterfalls, the most well-known of these being the Howick Falls (and its gorge) which were the subject of a few earlier posts (check the archives to the right). I’m trying to get around to visiting them all, and most recently took the road through the Sappi Forests to get to the Karkloof Falls. The road is well signposted from the Karkloof Road outside Howick, and whilst not strictly a 4X4 track, sections of it do require careful negotiation and a fairly high ground clearance in an ordinary vehicle. It is worth the effort, with the Falls being as magnificent (some say more so) than the better known Howick ones. Of equal attraction are the streams and rivers flowing through the gorges and valleys that give rise to these falls. (falls? rise?) Sappi has generously provided well-kept picnic areas around the site of the falls, and it’s a great place to take a leisurely break when motoring around the area. (The provided toilet facilities were out of order due to theft of the copper piping – only in South Africa!!!!). Here we see the Karkloof stream coursing its way to firstly the smaller Woodhouse Falls then immediately into the considerably higher Karkloof Falls.I usually look for something in the foreground to frame or add depth to a landscape image, and here two lumbering adjacent fir trees did the job beautifully.
