Bulembu Ghost town - Swaziland

[Reynard]

I thought I will share with you a special place about 50miles from home.

In America you guys had the wild west, in South Africa we had the wild east. With the discovery of gold in the area 100's of small mining towns popped up and so we have a few "ghost towns" in 150km range around our town.

Bulembu was at a stage the biggest Asbestos Mine in the world and the town was home to 10 000 people. There was a hospital, power station, cinema etc. What makes this town special was that it was so isolated due to the mountains that all their supplies and ore was transported by a 20km cable way. I remember as child seeing these cable carts going up and down the mountains near our house and when we where bigger, we would take our bikes up the mountain and ride these carts back down to town and this normally ended a big hiding from our father as it was really dangerous, but boys will be boys.

We went to visit the town and stayed there for a weekend taking in some of the views and sights. We are also in the process to setup a few Jeep trials in the area. The first few photos are of the old days

 

[ROBnTANK]

Good looking pictures, thx for sharing!!


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[Reynard]

Here is a few photos of the old Winder houses for the shafts and the cable way station. They imported all their food, clothes, medicine, fuel and coal for the power station via the cable way. Interesting part of the cable way is, when it was shutdown, it was done at a end of a shift, so in theory if everything is greased up, it should be able to startup and work again. The whole cable way is powered by a 60 horsepower motor.

We also found a school in the woods. Some of the learners marks was still lying in the teachers desks.

 

[Sheaffadelic]

This is awesome!!! Great pics and i love the background story for this...

 

[Ddays]

Wow - is this town 100% deserted??

 

[WJCO]

Really cool. Love seeing history like this.

 

[Reynard]

Wow - is this town 100% deserted??

Mine was finally closed in 2001, in one weeks time only 50 people was left and half of them was working at the border post. It is now used as an orphanage as Swaziland has the highest AID/HIV figure in the world. There is now about 300 people living here. We are part of the a group trying to get the town going again to get funds in for the kids.

We have about 8 more towns like these just standing empty. They all had golf courses, bowling and even some had horse racing tracks.

 

[Ddays]

That's a damn shame but that's awesome you are trying to help out the kids! Do you have a go fund me page or anything like that set up to help raise funds?

 

[Reynard]

That's a damn shame but that's awesome you are trying to help out the kids! Do you have a go fund me page or anything like that set up to help raise funds?

Nothing yet, the idea is to get the town to be self sufficient and be able to look after itself. We are involved with getting the adventure side of things going. Off-Roading, Zip line, some caving etc. There is also an honey, bottled water and saw mill starting up. In the end there will be 2000 kids housed here.

This is one of the most beautiful mountain ranges in southern africa. I will start a new post about the geology of the area. The oldest rocks in the world are in this area it is called Greenstone. It is 3.5Billion years old.

 

[Coop]

Love the story and pics! But asbestos mine? Do they check for asbestos contamination and monitor the air quality? Maybe just a US thing.


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[Ddays]

Nothing yet, the idea is to get the town to be self sufficient and be able to look after itself. We are involved with getting the adventure side of things going. Off-Roading, Zip line, some caving etc. There is also an honey, bottled water and saw mill starting up. In the end there will be 2000 kids housed here.

This is one of the most beautiful mountain ranges in southern africa. I will start a new post about the geology of the area. The oldest rocks in the world are in this area it is called Greenstone. It is 3.5Billion years old.

Thats awesome! Hope you keep updating this thread!

Sorry man, I don't mean to burst your bubble but all of the rocks in the world are the same age :idontknow:

 

[Reynard]

Love the story and pics! But asbestos mine? Do they check for asbestos contamination and monitor the air quality? Maybe just a US thing.


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Gets monitored every year by a company from Canada.

 

[Reynard]

Thats awesome! Hope you keep updating this thread!

Sorry man, I don't mean to burst your bubble but all of the rocks in the world are the same age :idontknow:

Tour guide pitch :dont_tell:

 

[MR.Ty]

Wow, thanks for sharing that looks like a great place to explore despite the depressing history.

 

[wayoflife]

Wow, this is amazing! Thank you so much for sharing this with us :thumb:

 

[piginajeep]

Holy shit, it hasn't been destroyed yet? Oh wait this isn't in America.



Thanks for sharing


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[notnalc68]

Great thread. Thanks for sharing,


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[BamBamDeer]

I enjoyed the thread....thanks

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[Labricon]

Interesting story and great plan to make the towns self sufficient!


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[RubiMyers]

This is awesome. I always enjoy some history from different lands. Incredible to see the machinery/technology from those days. Looks as if a lot of the town in still in tact for the most part, those school papers are definitely cool to see.