The province of Mpumalanga lies in eastern South Africa, north of KwaZulu-Natal and borders Free State to the southwest, Limpopo in the north, as well as Swaziland and Mozambique. The name Mpumalanga means “east of the place where the sun rises" in the local languages of Swazi, isiXhosa and isiZulu. Mpumalanga constitutes 6.5% of South Africa's land area, and the province's capital city is Nelspruit.
The Drakensberg Escarpment divides Mpumalanga into a western half, known as the Highveld, and an eastern half, known as the Lowveld. The Highveld consists mainly of high-altitude grassland where the Drakensberg can exceed heights of 2,000m. Amongst these regions of alpine grasslands there are also pockets of Afromontane Forest. The Lowveld, on the other hand, is a low altitude, subtropical bushveld that mostly consists of savanna habitat interspersed with rocky outcrops. The southern half of the Kruger National Park is part of this region.
The Lowveld is subtropical, due to its latitude and proximity to the warm Indian Ocean, and the Highveld is comparatively much cooler, due to its altitude of 1,700m to 2,300m above sea level. The Drakensberg Escarpment receives the most precipitation, with all other areas being moderately well-watered by summer thunderstorms. The Highveld often experiences severe frost, whilst the Lowveld is mostly frost-free. Winter rainfall is rare, except for some drizzle on the escarpment.
Some of the oldest rocks on earth are found in the Baberton area and these ancient, green stones and granites form the Crocodile River Mountains in the south-east of the province. The Lowveld is underlain by African Cratonic Basement rocks of ages in excess of 2 billion years. The Highveld is mostly Karoo Sequence sedimentary rocks of a younger Carboniferous and Permain age. The Lebombo Mountains in the far east form the border with Mozambique.
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