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 and her successors were frequently appealed to by other peoples and tribes asking for rain. Rider Haggard's adventure novel "She" (1887) was based on this legend.