A perfect lookout

Macadamia and game farms, food gardens, horses... The blissful peace of the Uitkyk area, a stone's throw from Mpumalanga's capital, Mbombela, is why many former city slickers have carved out a new life for themselves here.

- MIA LOUW

On a clear day, Ralph and Amelda Hearne have the most incredible view from their farm.

To the south, Barberton crouches at the foot of the Makhonjwa Mountains, which stretch along the horizon in the direction of Eswatini. To the north stands the koppie after which the Pretoriuskop Rest Camp in the Kruger National Park was named, as well as Mariepskop, the highest peak in the Northern Drakensberg. To the west is the agricultural town of Malelane.

Uitkyk ("lookout") is the name of one of the farms in the area, but it also refers to the highest point on the Uitkyk Road, which runs for 30 km southeast of Mbombela (formerly Nelspruit) and later takes a sharp turn northeast towards the N4 highway to Mozambique.

It's here, about 14km from the town, where the Hearnes farm macadamias on their 400-hectare property. Around 80 hectares are planted with orchards, and the remainder is covered in untamed bushveld and granite koppies.

"When I arrived here in 2013, people were still hunting excessively and I didn't want to sit up at night waiting for poachers, so I erected a fence," says Ralph.

He has since introduced water-buck, blesbok, blue wildebeest, impala and giraffe. "Only one of the 11 waterbuck remains. They'd hardly been here for half an hour before they'd trampled my fence! Now they live on the neighbour's farm."

There is also a big population of predators such as caracals, servals and leopards. You need to be tough as nails to farm here. "The other farmers often say to me, 'You farm where a baboon can't even walk with a stick," laughs Ralph.