About Magaliesburg

Magaliesburg is a small town situated on foot of the Witwatersrand mountain range in Gauteng, South Africa. The main Magaliesberg mountain range, is north of the town and is visible from the town and hence the the name "Magaliesburg". The town and surrounds are popular holiday and weekend destinations for the residents of Johannesburg.

Geography of Magaliesburg

At a time, several millions of years ago (almost half the age of the Earth itself), the inland plain and drainage wetland underwent massive geological upheaval and the area slit into two sections, and the ground tilted to the north, forming a line of two parallel mountain ranges which stretch for some 120 kilometers, from Pretoria, through Rustenburg to the Pilanesburg. This was the birth of the Magaliesberg Mountain range, which forms a natural barrier between the lower lying bushveld to the north, and the cooler highveld to the South and is the “meeting point” of many a species. The Sable’s southern most area of habitat was found in this area, while for the Springbok, they were not found to live any further North than this majestic range. The Witwatersrand Gold reef, was formed over hundreds of thousands of years, with its most northern reaches being discovered just a few kilometers from the present day village of Magaliesburg, at Blaauwbank. This is where the first strike of the Witwatersrand System, was made and in 1874, the Blaauwbank area was pegged out for formal gold mining activities. Here, the first mining company near the current Johannesburg was formed, named as the “Nil Desperandum Co-operative Quartz Company”. The importance of this mine, was to attract miners to the present day Johannesburg Area and along with it and the discovery of rich and payable veins of gold, creating the largest settlement of man in Sub Saharan Africa. Today, you can view the early day beginnings of Gold Mining activity, at the “still operational” Blaauwbank Gold Mine and Museum, within minutes drive of the village of Magaliesburg.