The Elands Valley stretches lavishly along the Elands River and follows it from the area west of Waterval Boven to Elandshoek further north where it joins the Crocodile River, and to Kaapsehoop in the east. The Valley separates the Highveld, with its towering escarpment, from the bushlands and savannah of the subtropical Lowveld. Citrus fruit and other crops flourish in this fertile region. Gold and lime have also been found and mined. The landscape is a beautiful mixture of hills and mountains, forests along the river and savannah – an irreplaceable area with the highest biodiversity status.

The Elands River is an important perennial water source for the Valley, the Lowveld and the southern part of Kruger National Park. Its beauty is reflected in the breath taking waterfall in Waterval Boven. Back in the day, the valley is believed to have been inhabited and farmed by Khoikhoi and later, the Basuto. By the time the first Europeans arrived, those early inhabitants had been driven away by the Swazi, who subsequently settled in the area. Nineteenth-century records tell of encounters between the Swazi and the occasional game hunter, or pioneers passing through in an era when travel was only possible on foot, horseback or by ox-wagon.

Things changed dramatically in the 1890s, when the Netherlands-South African Railway Company (ZASM) built a railway to connect landlocked Pretoria to Delagoa Bay (today’s Maputo Bay) in Mozambique. The advent of the railway boosted trade in the Valley. In 1895 the railway between Waterval Onder and Waterval Boven became known for its four kilometres of rack railroad that climbed up the escarpment and for the famous ZASM tunnel that had been blown into the rocks for this purpose. This narrow-gauge sideline – a remarkable piece of engineering – was one of few rack-tracks in the world.

In 1920, upon completion of a new train line along the waterfall, the tunnel became the first road leading directly into the Valley, which had previously been accessible only on foot or by train. It was only in 1972 that an adjacent tunnel and the N4 national highway was built to link Johannesburg with Nelspruit and Maputo.

The Valley’s most famous inhabitant was Paul Kruger, the last president of the South African Republic (Transvaal), who spent several months in the valley in 1900. Forced to flee from Pretoria at the height of the Anglo-Boer War, he took up residence at the Krugerhof, near Waterval Onder, while his government was based in Machadodorp. Word has it, that president Kruger preferred the warmth of Waterval Onder to the cold of the Highveld. As a result, his ministers had to shuttle back and forth to manage the affairs of state. Kruger later fled to Europe, via Mozambique, and remained there for the rest of his life. He died in Switzerland in 1904. Though initially buried in Europe, he was finally laid to rest in Pretoria.

Other noteworthy places in the Valley – to name just a few – are the old goldmining village Kaapsehoop (or Kaapsche Hoop), which is also known for its wild horses and the rare blue swallow, and the Sappi Pulp Mill, the largest of its kind in the southern hemisphere and a giant in the pulp and paper industry. Nowadays, with agriculture no longer profitable, only a few commercial farms have remained in the Valley. It is home to retirees who enjoy nature and country style living.