Bourke’s Luck Potholes in Mpumalanga, South Africa, is a natural water features that indicates the beginning of the Blyde River Canyon. These swirling whirlpools have formed over centuries as the Treur River plunges into the Blyde River causing waterborne sand and rock to grind large and cylindrical potholes into the bedrock of the river.
Bourke’s Luck Potholes are named after a gold digger, Tom Burke, who staked a claim nearby. Although his claim did not produce a single ounce of gold, he correctly predicted that large gold deposits would be found in the area.
The photographs below are in the order they were taken during our exploration of this famous natural tourist attraction.






Have a great weekend.
Natural beauty of SA. Have a great weekend.
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Thank you, you too, Bella.
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What a wonder, how far from home did you travel to see that?
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Hi Janet, it is about a 4.5 hour trip, so not that far. It is rather amazing.
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Terrific photos, Robbie – what incredible natural beauty!
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Hi John, there are some amazing places in South Africa, incredibly beautiful and unusual.
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Thanks for sharing this beautiful with us, Robbie:)
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My pleasure, Denise. It is a stunning place to visit.
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Amazing scenery, and great photos!
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Thank you, Clive. The scenery is spectacular in this part of the world.
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So I can see!
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Wonderful photos and a history lessons too. Wishing you a lovely weekend, Robbie!
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Thank you, Bette. A fascinating place to visit. I hope your weekend is also good.
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I love the contrast between the water and the rock. And the waterfalls are magical. (K)
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I love this kind of natural feature–canyons with water-carved rocks and potholes. There is a similar sort of place near where I live.
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Brilliant photograph. Do schools use photos like these in geography classes?
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Thank you, Danny. I don’t think so. I have never heard my boys mention anything like that. I guess schools are limited by their curriculum’s and time.
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I would have thought them to be an asset.
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Yes, they would be.
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Incredible! Geology is such a fascinating phenomenon.
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I agree, Pete. It is the natural phenomena that make South Africa beautiful and interesting whereas Europe has a lot of attraction and beauty in its historical buildings and places of interest.
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Lovely photos Robbie. Mpumalanga is my favourite province in SA. I am a bushveld and mountain person not a beach comber, even though I have lived in Durban most of my life.
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I have enjoyed visiting Mpumalanga too, Kim. We haven’t been to Durban or Cape Town since December 2013, our holidays have all been in the UK since the boys were old enough to appreciate the trips.
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These are so gorgeous. Such a beautiful place
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It is beautiful, Jude. Rather unusual, I think.
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Yeah and very scenic too
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The photos are stunning.
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Thank you, Dan. It is a beautiful and interesting place to visit.
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There are similar cylindrical “potholes” in an area off the Mohawk Trail in Massachusetts in shades of gray, rather than brown. My favorite picture in this group is the one with the waterfall in it. Such a different color palette from the one I’m used to and so beautiful.
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Thanks for sharing that information about the Mohawk Trail, Liz. I will remember that if we make it to the USA. I do rather love these colours, Liz. A beautiful place to visit.
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I hope you do make it to the USA some day. We have some very pretty country.
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Gorgeous photos. Thanks!
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My pleasure, Darlene. A very memorable visit.
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What unique rock formations, Robbie. And a beautiful stream and gorge. It looks like a great place to walk and explore with the family. ❤
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It is a fascinating place to visit, Diana. I have not seen anything like it anywhere else we have traveled in the world. I haven’t been to the USA though.
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Love the waterfalls…
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Thank you, Jim. A very pretty place.
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I would love to explore Bourke’s Luck Potholes, Robbie! The rock formations are fascinating! The gorge is amazing! ❤
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It is an incredible place to visit, Miriam. I am glad you enjoyed this post.
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I did, Robbie. We watched the nature documentaries again, and my husband would like to see some of those places.
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Amazing scenery, Robbie.
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Thank you, Norah.
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Beautiful place. We loved our visit to South Africa.
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Thank you, Sharon.
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Amazing photos, Robbie. I’d really like to visit South Africa one day.
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😉 The sight of those waterfalls is breathtaking.
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That’s incredible! Always good to learn a new feature of natural history.
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It is really amazing seeing these in “real” life. They are so unusual and interesting.
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While not quite the same your ‘holes’ remind me of the lava tubs I saw in Maui, Hawai’i.
(What is the state’s official spelling, “Hawaii” or “Hawai’i”? It’s neither. “Officially,” in the Hawaiian language, it’s actually spelled with an okina (‘)[1], not an apostrophe (‘). An okina is a glottal stop….but they do look similar…at least on a not specialized keypad.) Hawaiʻi (the tail points up not down like an apostrophe. Who knew?)
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I’ve never seen that key before or used it, Jules. I have never been to Hawaii but the lava tubs sounds interesting.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lava_tube
Apparently you can explore some of the empty ones. I think I saw the halona blowhole or others like it. If you put in an image search for either lava tubes or halona blowhole you will find some really interesting photos 🙂
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Thanks for the link, Jules. Completely fascinating. I remember some of this information from my son’s Grade 7 geography. I used to test him before exams. I really must visit Hawaii. I found the key btw.
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🙂
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Oh… the ‘glottal’ Key? I don’t think my lap top has one. Not straight up like a reverse water droplet… I have left and right single (`) (‘) apostrophes… unless the right one ` is supposed to be the glottal stop?
I know you can find some symbols by doing a control/what ever key you press… but I don’t have a list explaining all those ‘functions’ like how to get a real copyright symbol.
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` Is this the one? This is the key I found but I have never used it.
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I’m not sure. The one I copied from a language translation site showed an up tick tear drop shape. But it is possible.
The glottal stop or glottal plosive is a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages, produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract or, more precisely, the glottis. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ʔ⟩. That doesn’t look like the symbol I found between the two i’s. It looked more up and down with a bulb at the bottom. But with limited symbols, unless you have a special key board – you do with what you have.
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