Mac Mac Ultra

The small forestry town of Sabie is situated in the North Eastern Drakensberg Escarpment on the banks of the Sabie River in Mpumalanga(Place of the rising sun), South Africa. The name Sabie is derived from the Tsonga word “Ulusaba” which means “fearful river” because the river was once teeming with dangerous Nile crocodile

The history of Sabie:

Names such as Sir Percy Fitzpatrick, Sir Herbert Baker and Chief Lesisi line the pages of the town’s historic annals, which started as a base camp for hunters and transport riders. This quickly changed when HT Glynn hit a rock while target shooting with some friends. In 1871 a diverging bullet revealed a rich gold reef, and soon the gold rush of the first commercial gold extraction had found its way to the farm Grootfontein.

While the gold that was produced secured wealth, the extraction thereof consumed much of the natural forest of the surrounding area. In 1876, the son of Maria Shires, Joseph Brooks Shires planted the first commercial Eucalyptus and Wattle plantations on his farm Onverwacht (now Brooklands) to supply the demand for firewood and mining struts. Today Sabie lies in the centre of one of the largest man-made forests in the world.

And now, long after the departure of the Gold Rush to the Witwatersrand (Gauteng), the trees bare testimony of bygone years. Forestry is and will remain deeply rooted in the history and future of this town.

This is where your 200mile Mac Mac pilgrimage will start and finish!!!