Badplaas

Badplaas
The main swimming pool at Badplaas
Badplaas
Badplaas
Coordinates: 25°57′14″S 30°34′00″E
Country	South Africa
Province	Mpumalanga
District	Gert Sibande
Municipality	Albert Luthuli
Area
• Total	0.86 km2 (0.33 sq mi)
Population (2001)
• Total	276
• Density	321/km2 (830/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2001)
• Black African	40.6%
• Indian/Asian	3.3%
• White	56.2%
First languages (2001)
• Afrikaans	50.7%
• Swazi	26.4%
• English	10.9%
• Tsonga	7.6%
• Other	4.4%
Time zone	SAST (UTC+2)

Badplaas is a small town, established in 1876, and is located on the Seekoeispruit in the foothills of the Dhlumudhlumu Mountains (Place of Much Thunder) where a sulphur spring delivers ±30 000L of hot water (@±50°C) per hour.

History

Swazi tribesmen were the first to discover the spring and called it ‘Emanzana’ meaning Healing Waters. It has been said that in about 1876 the Swazi Chief presented this spring, in gratitude, to a hunter - Jacob de Clerq - who subsequently built a store nearby and developed the spring to allow for visitors’ use because of its medicinal properties. History does not tell us why the Swazi chief gave the spring to de Clerq. The spring became very popular when gold was discovered in the De Kaap Valley (near Barberton), prospectors would visit there on weekends to get away from their strenuous work of digging for gold. On 6 November 1893 the government claimed the springs to develop a health resort for public use in perpetuity, it was proclaimed in December 1947. The Protea Group managed this Aventura Resort for a time, but the resort has now been purchased by the Forever Resorts Group.