Sabie is a

forestry Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests and woodlands for associated resources for human and Natural environment, environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and ...

town situated on the banks of the Sabie River in

Mpumalanga Mpumalanga () is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. The name means "East", or literally "The Place Where the Sun Rises" in the Nguni languages. Mpumalanga lies in eastern South Africa, bordering Eswatini and Mozambique. It shares bor ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. The name Sabie is derived from the Xitsonga language word "

Sava The Sava, is a river in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, a right-bank and the longest tributary of the Danube. From its source in Slovenia it flows through Croatia and along its border with Bosnia and Herzegovina, and finally reac ...

" which means "Sand" because of the rich Sand in the area . The word Sava was modernized by the

Afrikaner Afrikaners () are a Southern African ethnic group descended from predominantly Dutch settlers who first arrived at the Cape of Good Hope in 1652.Entry: Cape Colony. ''Encyclopædia Britannica Volume 4 Part 2: Brain to Casting''. Encyclopæd ...

settlers A settler or a colonist is a person who establishes or joins a permanent presence that is separate to existing communities. The entity that a settler establishes is a Human settlement, settlement. A settler is called a pioneer if they are among ...

who changed it from Sava (Xitsonga) into the Afrikaans "Sabie" . The town was started after H.T. Glynn and J.C. Ingle found

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

there and formed the Glynns-Lydenburg Gold Mining Company. Sabie is located 360 kilometres east of

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

and 64 kilometres west of the popular

Kruger National Park Kruger National Park () is a national park in South Africa covering an area of in the provinces of Limpopo and Mpumalanga in the country's northeast. It extends from north to south and from east to west. The administrative headquarters are i ...

. It is known for its scenery and beautiful waterfalls, and is a popular tourist destination. Its main industry is forestry. The plantations surrounding Sabie form one of the world's largest man-made forests. It is situated approximately

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of a location's vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) in reference to a vertical datum based on a historic mean sea level. In geodesy, it is formalized as orthometric height. The zero level ...

and is in the summer rainfall area. During the winter period, there is little rainfall, and the area can become intensely dry. Forest fires are prevalent during this time, therefore precautions are taken beforehand to create fire breaks, as well as to incorporate block burning Sabie is also a tourism based town and relies on the steady flow of tourists year round to keep the community economy going. There are many attractions in and around the town itself. Of these the most popular is the Lone Creek Falls about outside of town. There are many other waterfalls in the area, such as the Bridal Veil, Maria Shire, Horseshoe, Forest Falls, and the Sabie River falls situated within the town itself.

Tourism

A large portion of the tourism is taken up by the adventurous mountain bikers that make their way to the downhill slaloms in the pine forests. One of these is the Noon to Moon which is a 10-hour endurance relay race for teams of 3. Teams complete as many laps as possible around a course of single track. The start is at 12 noon from the Castle Rock Camp site in Sabie and includes 3 hours of night riding. There are many kilometres of flowing single tracks which make this town a must to visit for mountain bikers. There is also trout fly fishing in the Sabie River which is regularly stocked. Permits are required to fish. Sabie has its own brewery located on 45 Main road.

Protests

In February 2016, tourists and the residents of Sabie were prevented from leaving the town near Kruger Park when protesters barricaded all exit roads. Sabie police spokesman Constable Mandy Mculu said the protesters began barricading the roads early in the morning. "They were protesting because electricity had been cut to an illegal settlement the day before," she explained. About 500 people were involved in the protest.

References

External links

Sabie website
{{Authority control Populated places in the Thaba Chweu Local Municipality