Blyde River Canyon Nature Reserve

The Blyde River Canyon Nature Reserve is a biosphere reserve in Mpumalanga, South Africa, protecting one of the deepest green canyons on the planet. Rock walls rise along the Drakensberg escarpment and form a series of cliffs that drop down forested slopes toward the river bed below.

Authorities established the reserve in November 1965 to protect the gorge and its forests from logging. In the following decades the protected zone expanded to include the entire canyon with its tributary streams.

The name Blyde comes from the Afrikaans word for joyful, referring to early travelers who celebrated their arrival in the fertile valley after difficult mountain crossings. Today visitors can spot local guides near parking areas who grew up learning the gorge trails and now share stories about the surrounding plateaus and waterfalls.

Visitors reach the area through two access routes starting from different towns, leading to viewpoints along the canyon rim. The roads are paved but winding, so allow time for breaks and photo stops.

The Treur and Blyde rivers meet here, their names meaning sorrow and joy, reflecting a 19th-century story of settlers who thought a group had perished then found them alive downstream. The meeting point now marks a spot where the water changes color from dark brown to lighter green within a few meters.