Barberton

The mid-19th century gold mining boom town of Barberton is our next stop.  There appears to still be some mining in the area, but now agriculture and logging are the primary industries.  We were impressed with the extensive orchards and farms we passed.

Had we known what a wonderful place the Mhlati Guest House was, we would have planned to stay longer.  But we were also interested in learning more about the geological discoveries around Barberton, particularly Barberton Greenstone - the oldest mineral found on earth.

Amid the Greenstone, the fossils of the oldest life forms yet to be discovered have also been found - a microorganism.

We set off to follow the “Genesis Route” which had some informative signage and some great viewpoints overlooking the town and environs.  We started up into the mountains that form the boundary between South Africa and Swaziland, and then turned off onto a sand road.

This was a very scenic route, but we eventually came to mud holes in the road and finally a spot where water covered the road entirely.  We tried to ascertain how deep the water was (I threw a rock in and John got a stick to try to measure with).  We simply couldn’t tell the depth or solidity of the mud/rock beneath, so we debated how adventurous we felt.  Many miles from the nearest paved road, no cell phone service - and who would we call if we did have...   Cowardice / good sense prevailed, and we turned around and retraced our route back to town.

The town of Barberton isn’t particularly interesting, and it’s singularly bereft of good restaurants.  Our B & B host recommended a pizza parlor as the best place for dinner, lamenting that the one really nice restaurant in town had closed when the two Dutch women who owned it were told to leave the country by the government for no apparent reason.