About Nelspruit
Nelspruit, from farming town to the provincial capitol of the Mpumalanga. From meager beginnings to a booming centre of industry and economic growth. SInce its inception as the capital in 1995, this former farming community has really taken off.
Mpumalanga (Place where the sun rises) is serviced by an excellent road system which means that it is totally accessible to tourists. It is also well served by a number of smaller airports.
Today, Nelspruit is flourishing. It is a major tourist destination offering a rich and wide variety to visitors with arguably the most sought after attraction, the Kruger National Park, in it's proximity.
History of Nelspruit:
Named after the original farm owners, the three Nel brothers, it began with the construction of a station built on their farm. Nelspruit, meaning literally Nels Stream, was first established as a railhead to serve the first section of the construction of the railway linking Pretoria and Mozambique.
It attracted farmers and traders in large numbers due to the soil's natural richness. It proved itself to be high quality agricultural land.
It was during this time that Nelspruit first became a focal point for the whole Lowvled area as goods still had to be transported to the interior by means of oxwagon.
A gentleman by the name of Hugh Lanion Hall arrived in the area in mid 1890 and proceeded to establish a huge citrus and subtropical fruit estate, one of the largest of its kind in the country. Today it is know as Hall & Sons Ltd and is arguably the largest such producer in Southern Africa.
By the end of May of the following year, 1891, the railway bridge over the Komati River was completed. By 28 September that year the railway had reached Malelane, eventually reaching Krokodilpoort Station in April 1892. Having reached Nelspruit, the railhead was put into commission on June 20, 1892.
On 20 June 1894 it reached Waterval Boven and the then President of the ZAR, Paul Kruger, drove the last bolt home himself in November of that same year.
The line was formally opened on 27 June 1895, when the Volksraad actually adjourned for the official opening and every burgher was eligible for a free ticket to and from the then Lourenco Marques, today known as Maputo.
Malaria and Nagana, two natural, deadly barriers of nature and transmitted by mosquito and the feared tsetse fly, stifled the penetration of the Lowveld for many a year. Large scale immigration into the area only started taking place once the two were defeated.
The great rinderpest epidemic that decimated most of the cattle in the country in 1896 turned out to be a well disguised blessing as it also managed to get rid of the tsetse fly. To date nobody can say for certain how this came about.
In the mid 1890's the time was on hand for an all out war against the malaria mosquito. This brought about amazing results and within 8 years the yearly number of malaria cases admitted to hospitals dropped from 2000 to only 200.
Having effectively gained control over this deadly disease, the community was finally able to make positive progress and Nelspruit soon became on of the largest producers of avocado's, mangoes, litchi's and tobacco.
