“ … the real challenge is to learn how to use and enjoy all that the mountains have to offer and allow that enjoyment to be sustained in perpetuity.”
~ Vincent Carruthers
About the Magaliesberg section of MCSA
The Magaliesberg Section of the Mountain Club of South Africa was established in 1968 and is based in Pretoria. Activities arranged by the Section include mountaineering, rock climbing, bouldering, hiking, kloofing (canyoning), training (uncertified), conservation, and search and rescue. Most of these activities take place at venues in the Magaliesberg. Some take place in other areas of South Africa and abroad.
The Section’s clubhouse is located at the Rietondale Tennis Club where club functions & presentation evenings are held every 2nd Tuesday. The library based at the clubhouse carries an extensive range of books covering various mountaineering and conservation subjects.
The Magaliesberg Section works closely with the Johannesburg Section and together owns and manages not only several of the magnificent Magaliesberg properties, but properties in other areas of Limpopo and Mpumalanga as well.
Where does MAG MCSA get its name?
During the mid-1800s, one of the more important Chiefs of the North-West Province area was named Mogale (or Mohale). “Mogale” means a “sharp” or “clever” person and is also a common word for a “warrior” or “soldier” in Setswana. In his honor the mountains became known as Magaliesberg, or Mogale’s mountain. Kgosi Mogale Mogale (the repetition of the name is correct) was ruler of the Bapo tribe whose territory included Krugersdorp, Kagiso, Munsieville, Magaliesburg, Hekpoort and Tarlton. A statue of Kgosi Mogale Mogale can be visited in the Krugersdorp Museum.
As the fourth-oldest mountain range in the world, the Magaliesberg crosses over two provinces and stretches for 120km from Bronkhorstspruit Dam east of Pretoria to Rustenburg in the west. The range separates the highveld grasslands to the south from the bushveld savannah in the north. One of the striking features of the Magaliesberg is its deep gullies and kloofs (“kloof” is a South African term for a ravine or gorge), which were created by water runoff from the mountains and can be more than 100 metres deep. These kloofs hold perennial waterfalls and pools of crystal-clear water. In 2015, the Magaliesberg was declared a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve by the International Coordinating Council of the Programme on Man and the Biosphere (MAB).
Located in Pretoria, under the shelter of the Magaliesberg, MAG MCSA makes its home and honours the mountain range with its Section name.
Aloe Peglerae, endemic to the Magaliesberg
