Exploring Burgersfort, the new Platinum City

The colourful setting of Platinum Aloe restaurant at Thaba Moshate casino resort.

The beauty of travel in South Africa is that you need not chase big-name destinations to have a good time away. Take frontier town of Burgersfort for example. Just 20 years ago, then stopover dorpie was the butt of jokes even for locals. The rural population here at the time thought real shopping meant travel to Polokwane, some 150km away!

That was a long way to go for shopping but thankfully Burgersfort has cast away its one-horse town monkey. So much has changed in recent years, and Burgersfort is now a boom town, thanks to platinum mining in the area. It has now adopted marketing moniker of Platinum City! The town is growing so fast, with shopping malls boasting major retail and service brands, even city ones like Woolies and Postnet.

Estates with double-storey houses are springing up where it used to be open grassland on mountain foothills; similarly impressive homes are also rising up in the villages.

One of the biggest recent investments should be Thaba Moshate Hotel Casino Convention Resort. It offers a variety of entertainment options for families and groups during the day and couples or individual adults mainly in the evening.

The colourful resort is perched on the west-facing slopes of a mountain range, overlooking the final stretches of the busy R555 - from Middelburg in Mpumalanga - before it hits the CBD of Burgersfort.

Typical traffic chaos in Burgersfort CBD, thanks to poor town planning by the local municipality.

The town's rapid growth is being seriously let down by poor town planning. The people in the relevant office at the Tubatse municipality has some answering to do for allowing the town centre to grow into a mishmash forever clogging the narrow main street called Dirk Winterbach. (I wonder who he is or was.) Anyways, the main street is the continuation of the R37 from Polokwane, as it passes through to Lydenburg Mashishing in Mpumalanga.

In fact, Burgersfort also began life in the new South Africa in the Mpumalanga province. That was when the Tubatse River (some call it Steelpoort) stood as the natural border between Limpopo and Mpumalanga provinces. And because someone travelling from the west needed to cross the Tubatse to get into Burgersfort, the town was therefore naturally in Mpumalanga.

But, because the vast rural population it served, including the farming community, were in Limpopo, the town would later also be redemarcated into Limpopo. Be that as it may, some sources of information still list Burgersfort as Mpumalanga town.

There's plenty of accommodation of varying degrees of luxury in town, villages and country lodges - good ones ranging from R300 a night to some with sums of more than a thousand bucks just to lay your head!

Road sign pointing to a turn to Tjate next to Ga-Kgoete village along R37 to Polokwane.

So, what do I do in Burgersfort?

I come here to relax for a few, or take a breather on my travels to places still far ahead of here. Even when I stay a little longer, I never get tired of exploring or visit sites.

• Thaba Moshate I don't gamble, I come here for cocktails and chill time at Molecule bar. Your mood and weather notwithstanding, this superb bar just lifts up. Molecule hosts live entertainment in the evenings and it's also a great place to network. Though the bar has a light meals menu, the Platinum Aloe restaurant is a setting to behold for meals. I never get over its attractive, colourful design. The rooms are a small heaven; you won't regret the spend. Some people come to the resort to laze about the pool area, with its uniquely designed pools of average depth to avoid drownings. Overall, Moshate's pool area is a place that's hard to leave, even for non-swimmers who just love lying on its loungers.

• Village chill There are many villages around Burgersfort to visit and soak in the country lifestyle, more so on the weekends when there are traditional ceremonies including weddings - a big deal in these parts of the country. Chilling in the villages you can also admire the picturesque surroundings of hills forming part of the Leolo mountains. Leolo and other ranges closeby form part of the early stretches of the Drakensberg, Africa's second longest mountain range after Atlas Mountains. But the rolling vistas of unspoilt countryside are facing a mean threat from the ever expanding platinum mining in the area. This and the shabby town centre pose aesthetic challenges.

Guests having a great time at Clifford's Lodge one of the best establishments in Burgersfort.

• Shisanyama Some call it chesanyama or braai spot, but it's the same spot the favourite grilled meat treat is served and there's plenty to choose in this hugely carnivorous area. Badikila Road House is my favourite meating place in Burgersfort. Located at Ga-Mashamothane, a village a walking distance from town along the R37 to Polokwane, it's the biggest braai spot I have seen in my travels around the country. Badikila is not only about the meat and the beer, it's a perfect place to catch up with developments in area as well as issues affecting Bapedi people in the Sekhukhune district. And due to the professional set the venue attracts, business happens as well as networking and deals are struck here as the wors sizzles on the grill.
• Tjate Heritage This natural fortress it's where Sekhukhune set up his capital after usurping power from his brother Mampuru 200 years ago. There are many legends and interesting stories from Tjate, including how Sekhukhune used a network of caves to hide from enemies. These enemies include the British forces accompanied by Swazi warriors. Today Tjate valley is marked by a peaceful setting, with a plethora of churches from different denominations pointing to a largely religious community. The capital of Bapedi king along Sekhukhune's lineage is now at Mohlaletsi, a few kilometres as the crow flies over the platinum-laden Leolo mountains.

• Stopover Sometimes I arrive here for a pit-stop before heading to the Panorama Route, Mpumalanga's premier tourist destination. Many other travelers also use Burgersfort to replenish their supplies, stretch their muscles or sleep over before heading to the Kruger National Park or other destinations.

Rural bliss in villages like this one is a hidden attraction travelers in the country need to warm up to.

How to get there

• From Johannesburg travel on N12 to Middelburg from there get onto R555. (Distance: 340km)
• From Polokwane travel eastwards via route R37. (Distance: 153km)
• From Nelspruit via R37 through Lydenburg. (Distance 148km)