Geography
The Drakensberg Escarpment divides Mpumalanga into a westerly half consisting mainly of high-altitude grassland called the Highveld and an eastern half situated in low altitude subtropical Lowveld/Bushveld, mostly savanna habitat. The southern half of the Kruger National Park is situated in the latter region. The Drakensberg exceeds heights of 2000m in most places with this central region of Mpumalanga being very mountainous. These regions have alpine grasslands and small pockets of Afromontane Forest. The Lowveld is relatively flat with interspersed rocky outcrops. The Lebombo Mountains form a low range in the far east forming the border with Mozambique.
Some of the oldest rocks on earth are to be found in the Barberton area and these ancient greenstones and metamorphosed granites form the Crocodile River Mountains in the south-east of the province. The Lowveld is underlaid by African Cratonic Basement rocks of ages in excess of 2 billion years. The Highveld is mostly Karoo Sequence sedimentary rocks of a younger, Carboniferous to Permian age.
- Gaza Province, Mozambique – northeast
- Maputo Province, Mozambique – east
- Lubombo District, Swaziland – east, southwest of Maputo Province
- Hhohho District, Swaziland – east, northwest of Lubombo
- Manzini District, Swaziland – east, south of Hhohho
- Shiselweni District, Swaziland – southeast, south of Manzini
Mpumalanga is the only province of South Africa to border two provinces of Mozambique or to border all four districts of Swaziland.
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