{"id":567,"date":"2012-09-07T10:21:22","date_gmt":"2012-09-07T08:21:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.places.co.za\/blog\/?p=567"},"modified":"2013-06-11T08:28:03","modified_gmt":"2013-06-11T06:28:03","slug":"mapungubwe-one-of-the-most-interesting-places-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.places.co.za\/blog\/mapungubwe-one-of-the-most-interesting-places-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Mapungubwe; one of the most interesting places in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.places.co.za\/accommodation\/mapungubwe-national-park.html\">Mapungubwe<\/a>\u00a0offers you a National Park, a transfrontier conservation area, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the remains of a Lost Iron-Age City in one destination.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_568\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-568\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-568 \" title=\"Mapungubwe\" alt=\"Mapungubwe National Park\" src=\"http:\/\/www.places.co.za\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/3222.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"224\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-568\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mapungubwe National Park<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Mapungubwe is South Africa\u2019s oldest organised trade centre and human settlement and you can trace the spirituality of our ancestors with a guided tour of Mapungubwe Ruins. Visit the Mapungubwe Interpretive Centre to view all the artefacts on display (including the Golden Rhino, the symbol of Limpopo Province).<\/p>\n<p>The park can be experienced by sedan vehicle, although there are also several 4&#215;4 only routes and on foot at several get-out points, or by reserving guided walks. The park offers an astonishing botanic diversity \u2013 a plethora of baobab trees, (some well over 1000 years old and with girths of 10m wide); riparian gallery forests, Pod Mahoganies, the jaundiced Fever Trees and many more.<\/p>\n<p>The park is still home to all the large mammals of the African Savannah ecosystem. It is especially good for elephant and leopard. Over 400 bird species can be spotted. The park is in a transition area for many arid western bird species and more moisture loving eastern Lowveld species.<\/p>\n<p>Mapungubwe is also the meeting point of South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe. At the confluence of the Limpopo and Shashe Rivers a wonderful network of pathways and viewing decks are provided. Also called Poacher\u2019s Corner, because in times gone by bandits, smugglers and poachers were able to choose between three countries to evade any authorities that might be pursuing them.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.places.co.za\/accommodation\/mapungubwe-national-park.html\">Mapungubwe<\/a> offers an excellent choice and standard of accommodation at Leokwe (a camp surrounded by sandstone cliffs and rings of baobab), the Limpopo Forest Tented Camp (set in the gallery forest of the Limpopo) and the Vhembe Wilderness Camp.<\/p>\n<p>The rich biodiversity, great scenic beauty and the archaeological treasures of Mapungubwe, make it one of the most interesting places in South Africa to visit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mapungubwe\u00a0offers you a National Park, a transfrontier conservation area, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the remains of a Lost Iron-Age City in one destination. Mapungubwe is South Africa\u2019s oldest organised trade centre and human settlement and you can trace the spirituality of our ancestors with a guided tour of Mapungubwe Ruins. Visit the Mapungubwe [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":568,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v18.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Mapungubwe; one of the most interesting places in South Africa - South Africa Travel Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.places.co.za\/blog\/mapungubwe-one-of-the-most-interesting-places-in-south-africa\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mapungubwe; one of the most interesting places in South Africa - South Africa Travel Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Mapungubwe\u00a0offers you a National Park, a transfrontier conservation area, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the remains of a Lost Iron-Age City in one destination. Mapungubwe is South Africa\u2019s oldest organised trade centre and human settlement and you can trace the spirituality of our ancestors with a guided tour of Mapungubwe Ruins. Visit the Mapungubwe [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.places.co.za\/blog\/mapungubwe-one-of-the-most-interesting-places-in-south-africa\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"South Africa Travel Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/south.africa.places\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-09-07T08:21:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-06-11T06:28:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.places.co.za\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/3222.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"224\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Abrie Coetzee\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.places.co.za\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.places.co.za\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"South Africa Travel Blog\",\"description\":\"SA Places&#039; travel blog &amp; guide to Southern Africa\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.places.co.za\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.places.co.za\/blog\/mapungubwe-one-of-the-most-interesting-places-in-south-africa\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.places.co.za\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/3222.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.places.co.za\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/3222.jpg\",\"width\":300,\"height\":224,\"caption\":\"Mapungubwe National Park\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.places.co.za\/blog\/mapungubwe-one-of-the-most-interesting-places-in-south-africa\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.places.co.za\/blog\/mapungubwe-one-of-the-most-interesting-places-in-south-africa\/\",\"name\":\"Mapungubwe; one of the most interesting places in South Africa - South Africa Travel Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.places.co.za\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.places.co.za\/blog\/mapungubwe-one-of-the-most-interesting-places-in-south-africa\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-09-07T08:21:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-06-11T06:28:03+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.places.co.za\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/ee6d4ca57590e8a9ed586314d0c0cf21\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.places.co.za\/blog\/mapungubwe-one-of-the-most-interesting-places-in-south-africa\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.places.co.za\/blog\/mapungubwe-one-of-the-most-interesting-places-in-south-africa\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.places.co.za\/blog\/mapungubwe-one-of-the-most-interesting-places-in-south-africa\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.places.co.za\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Mapungubwe; one of the most interesting places in South Africa\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.places.co.za\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/ee6d4ca57590e8a9ed586314d0c0cf21\",\"name\":\"Abrie Coetzee\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.places.co.za\/blog\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2b6f77c6e5f6f79338fcfbbe78cd8306?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2b6f77c6e5f6f79338fcfbbe78cd8306?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Abrie Coetzee\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.places.co.za\/blog\/author\/abrie\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Mapungubwe; one of the most interesting places in South Africa - South Africa Travel Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.places.co.za\/blog\/mapungubwe-one-of-the-most-interesting-places-in-south-africa\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Mapungubwe; one of the most interesting places in South Africa - South Africa Travel Blog","og_description":"Mapungubwe\u00a0offers you a National Park, a transfrontier conservation area, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the remains of a Lost Iron-Age City in one destination. 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