Tzaneen - Modjadji Nature Reserve

It is a pleasant drive from Duiwelskloof to the Modjadji Nature Reserve, 28km/17mi northeast. The reserve was established in 1985 to protect a species of cycad known as the Modjadji palm (or breadfruit tree). This reaches a height of 3 or 4m (10-13ft), with some specimens as much as 8m/26ft high. Visitors can explore the reserve on a number of hiking trails and, with luck, may see impalas, blue wildebeests, nyalas and kudus.

The reserve lies on the territory of the Lobedu tribe, the chief of which is a woman known as the "rain queen". The female ruling dynasty to which she belongs can be traced back to the 16th C, when, it is said, a princess who had the skill of a rain-maker fled to this area with a group of her supporters. She