The seven-cable attraction forms part of SANParks’ strategy to transform Golden Gate Highlands National Park into a multi-day destination while creating jobs and boosting tourism in the Free State.
By Tsikwe Molobye
South African National Parks (SANParks) has officially launched the Golden Gate Zipline at Golden Gate Highlands National Park near Clarens, in the Free State.
The R6 million investment is aimed at turning the Free State park from a scenic stopover into a multi-day destination.
The seven-cable zipline was unveiled on Saturday, 15 August, under the theme “Experience Golden Gate from a Perspective”, with chants, ululation, and a ribbon-cutting against the park’s famous golden sandstone cliffs marking the occasion.
SANParks Managing Executive Property Mokoena said roughly R6 million has been invested in the project, which has created 20 jobs, with the organisation aiming to encourage visitors to stay for an average of four days and experience more of what Golden Gate and the surrounding area have to offer.
The strategy marks a shift in thinking, not simply attracting tourists to Golden Gate, but giving them enough reasons to stay.
Seven cables, one hour, a new perspective
The Golden Gate Zipline takes visitors across seven cables and platforms, with the longest cable stretching about 650 metres. The full experience lasts roughly an hour and offers views of the Maluti Mountains and surrounding valleys that were previously only possible from the air.
I was able to test it myself, and the perspective shift is immediate. From no longer standing at the bottom of the mountain looking up to moving through the landscape, valleys opening up beneath you, and sandstone cliffs stretching out around you.
For anyone who loves the outdoors and a daring adventure, it definitely delivers.
The bigger tourism picture
For SANParks, the attraction is about more than adrenaline. The park already holds the natural assets: mountains, hiking trails, wildlife, cultural heritage, and the zipline adds a new demographic to the mix.
The Kgodumodumo Dinosaur Interpretation Centre has already demonstrated the potential of this approach, drawing strong visitor interest since opening.
Each new attraction extends the length of stay and, with it, spending on accommodation, restaurants, guides, and transport in surrounding communities is an economic opportunity that matters for the Free State – a province too often treated as a drive-through between Gauteng and the coast.
A landscape fit for Wakanda
The zipline may be the newest attraction, but the mountains remain the headline act. The sandstone cliffs glow gold as the afternoon light shifts and it is easy to understand why parts of Black Panther were filmed across this landscape. Looking out over the dramatic formations, the visual world of Wakanda suddenly makes sense. There is something almost otherworldly about Golden Gate.
Where science meets folklore
The Kgodumodumo Dinosaur Interpretation Centre remains a highlight in its own right. The centre tells the region’s prehistoric story alongside the Basotho legend of the Kgodumodumo, a mythical creature of immense power, said to shake the ground as it walked, its footsteps making the thundering “kgo-dumo-dumo” sound that gave the beast its name. It is a legend long associated with the enormous footprints and fossil discoveries embedded in the region’s sandstone.
Speaking to a visibly passionate park manager, Peter “Paddy” Gordon, I was struck by how few South Africans know that some dinosaur species lived only in Southern Africa, found nowhere else on Earth.
More striking still is the timeline. The Basotho people have lived in this region for more than 300 years, telling tales of these creatures long before the word “dinosaur” was even invented, a term barely 184 years old. For generations, communities encountered the evidence of animals that roamed here millions of years ago and created stories to explain what they were seeing.
Today, palaeontology completes that picture. As a Sesotho speaker, seeing those two worlds brought together felt like a reminder that the stories people tell about the land are part of its history too. History does not only begin when academia gives something a name. Sometimes communities have been observing, interpreting and remembering for generations.
It also left me with a quiet resolve: our childhood stories and folklore are worth preserving and worth passing on to the next generation. Somewhere in those tales, there may be knowledge waiting for science to catch up.
A sky the city forgot
After sunset, Golden Gate offers one more attraction that costs nothing, the night sky.
Far from Johannesburg’s light pollution, the Milky Way stretches clearly from horizon to horizon, a scale of sky that has effectively disappeared from city view.
It is a reminder of how much of nature we have lost sight of simply because we live surrounded by artificial light.
Come for the zipline, stay for everything else
That, ultimately, is the bet SANParks is making: draw visitors in with the adventure, then give them enough reasons to stay — from the mountains and dinosaurs to the rich heritage and a sky most city dwellers have forgotten exists.
For a province often treated as somewhere to drive through, Golden Gate is making a compelling argument to stop.
All images included in this piece were captured by Kaya 959 journalist Tsikwe Molobye.
READ NEXT:
