A new 51-metre glass elevator is being constructed about a kilometre outside Graskop, at the Graskop Gorge.
The development is being done by the Graskop Gorge Lift Company, owned by Lowveld businessmen Oupa Pilane, James Sheard and Campbell Scott. Nelspruit-born Pilane is the current president of the Kruger Lowveld Chamber of Business and Tourism and a well-known figure in the province, while Sheard and Scott developed the Long Tom Toboggan and Skyway Trails, respectively.
The elevator will be the main attraction at the Graskop Gorge adventure centre. It will cost in excess of R40m (€2.8m) and will be the first of its kind in Africa.
Visitors will be transported to the bottom of the Graskop Gorge, into a forest environment. The glass elevator will offer 360-degree views of the gorge, waterfall, trees, birds and sky. An elevated forest walkway will be built at the bottom of the gorge.
Two suspension bridges will cross the river and will include interpretation boards. Karl Lane from Hamilton-Fynch, the company responsible for the environment interpretation boards, says the project will provide the opportunity to explain the origin of the Blyde River Canyon, the biodiversity significance of the forests and the smaller organisms, as well as the importance of the escarpment catchment to water supplies for communities and wildlife downstream, all the way to the Indian Ocean.
The centre will also include a restaurant, bar and shops at the top of the gorge, with a children’s play area and look-out points. The centre will open for business in the last quarter of this year.
“The Graskop Gorge Adventure Centre will serve as a major tourism node on the Panorama Tourist Route,” said Mpumalanga Premier, David Mabuza, in his State of the Province address in February.
The second phase of the project will include a 40-bed boutique hotel.
The adventure centre is a public-private partnership with the Thaba Chweu municipality through its local economic development agency, Thaleda, and the National Empowerment Fund is a shareholder.
The original version of this story did not include the information that this development is being done by the Graskop Gorge Lift Company. Tourism Update apologises for any confusion caused.
