Bronkhorstspruit

Bronkhorstspruit sits on the N4 highway, 50 km east of Pretoria in the direction of eMalahleni, close to the Gauteng and Mpumalanga border. The town was laid out in 1904 on the farm Hondsrivier and took its current name in 1935. Before the town existed, the area was already part of history: on 20 December 1880, a Boer commando ambushed a British column of the 94th Regiment of Foot near here, killing or wounding most of the force and firing the opening shot of the First Boer War. The battlefield is marked and worth a stop if you know the story.

Ten kilometres south of town, the Bronkhorstspruit Dam holds 57 million cubic metres of water and is the reason most visitors come. The dam's shores host a string of recreational resorts and private developments. Sailing, jet-skiing, waterskiing, and parasailing are all possible here, which makes the dam an unusually active destination for a Highveld town its size. The surrounding landscape is wide open grassland and acacia, the kind of countryside that feels quieter than it is given how close Pretoria sits.

The town itself is workmanlike. It has fuel, a Checkers, some smaller shops, and the services that a farming and light-industrial community needs. The townships of Ekangala and Zithobeni make up the larger population cluster in the broader municipal area. The town came under the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality in 2011 when the Kungwini Local Municipality was abolished. It is still a town that thinks of itself as its own place rather than a Pretoria satellite.

The drive from Pretoria on the N4 is straight and fast. The landscape opens up noticeably east of the city. Bronkhorstspruit marks the last real town before the road climbs into Mpumalanga, making it a natural fuel and coffee stop on the route east, and a weekend destination in its own right for anyone wanting water and space without a long drive.