Graskop Gorge Lift Co in Mpumalanga has launched two new products, Cliff Café and Next-Level Walk.
The new Cliff Café is a ‘café-in-the-forest’ that invites visitors to sip, stroll and soak in some of the scenery.
It is accessed via the new Next-Level Walk, a no-harness walkway that winds along the cliff face, revealing trickling spring water, hanging ferns and views of the ancient gorge.
The Next-Level Walk and Cliff Café are accessed via the viewing elevator. When alighting at this level, visitors can choose to go right and enjoy a scenic stroll to the Cliff Café, or go left and walk along the rock face, eventually descending via a series of stairways and walkways to join up with the Forest Trail one level below.
The interpretive Forest Trail, along raised walkways and suspension bridges, teaches visitors about the wonders of the Afromontane forest.
If visitors fancy a hot, cold or alcoholic drink while doing the Forest Trail, they can take the lift one level up, or enjoy the scenic route and make their way up via the new walkway.
The Next-Level Walk opens up previously inaccessible parts of the gorge’s upper walls, offering safe access to landscapes that were once only visible to climbers or drone cameras.
When the Graskop Gorge Lift Co opened its scenic viewing lift in December 2017, it was the first of its kind in South Africa, transporting visitors down the face of a 51-metre cliff into an Afromontane forest world below.
Over the years, the Graskop Gorge Lift Co has grown into a multi-faceted adventure and leisure hub, where visitors can:
- Ride the panoramic lift to the forest floor and explore a lush, circular Forest Trail, complete with interpretation boards and bubbling streams.
- Brave the Big Swing, an adrenaline-filled 70m freefall (reach speeds of more than 140km/h in just three seconds).
- Zip across the gorge and back on 120m ziplines for a different kind of rush.
- Opened in 2024, the Cliff Walk is a thrilling, harnessed adventure along the gorge’s vertical cliffs, featuring suspension bridges and high pathways that offer views of the landscape.
- Step onto a 52-metre suspension bridge for panoramic views across the gorge.
- Choose between two distinctive restaurants: The casual Swing Café, ideal for families and action-watchers, and the Lift Café, with a full menu and sweeping views.
Visitors can enjoy free access to the forest trail, Cliff Café and Mid-level Walk via roughly 300 stairs while the lift is closed for maintenance from now until June 24.
While the lift is closed, all other activities and restaurants will be open and the standard entrance fee still applies.
