Nelspruit, located in the fertile Lowveld, is the capital city of the Mpumalanga Province of South Africa. It lies on National Route 4 (N4), which links Pretoria (322km) and Johannesburg (335km) to Maputo (189km) in neighbouring Mozambique. It is approx. a 45min drive from the southern most entrance to the Kruger National Park at Malelane Gate. The Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport (KMIA) is 22km out of town.

The city's greatest benefit to tourists is its central location on the N4 and close proximity to the Kruger National Park, the northern border of Swaziland and towns such as White River, Hazyview, Sabie and Baberton. It also has a fair selection of hotels, guesthouses and B&B's. Other tourist attractions include the Lowveld National Botanical Garden, The Riverside Mall & Emnotweni Casino, the Croc River Enviro Park and the Sudwala Caves ±35km out of town.

Nelspruit's immediate surrounds are mostly fruit growing areas and you will drive through miles and miles of orchards as you approach and leave the city on the N4. You'll have the opportunity to buy fruit at ridiculous prices at informal roadside stalls.

The city was proclaimed on 27 January 1905 and named after the Nel brothers who farmed in the area ("Nel" from the brothers' surname + "spruit", which is Afrikaans for "stream" or "creek"). Nelspruit came into existence as a result of the Pretoria-Maputo railway line completed in 1892. The establishment of the railway line was an extremely important development as it was the first railway line to link present day Gauteng to an export harbour (Maputo). Nelspruit was the first railhead established on the new line. The small city located in the fertile Crocodile River Valley has grown from 38 hectares at its inception to over 4000 hectares today.

In the last decade, following on South Africa and Mozambique's democratisation, Nelspruit's image has been changing fast from a conservative mostly Afrikaner and Afrikaans speaking town to a multi-racial business hub in the region. It is the closest commercial centre to the Mozambiquen border and loads of middle-class Mozambicans travel to Nelspruit on a regular basis to sample its goods and entertainment. So much so that a lot of Nelspruit residents can nowadays speak rudimentary Portuguese (Mozambique's lingua franca) in addition to Afrikaans and English.