A Thundering Waterfall in a dry, Desert Landscape September 30, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Africa, Air Tickets, Cape Town, Europe, Geographic, Round The World, Tour, Trails, Travellers Cheque, Zambia , trackbackKnown to the wandering Khoikhoi as Aukoerebis (place of great noise), the Augrabies Falls thunder over a great granite slash in the barren bushveld of the northern Cape. Here the tumbling waters of the Orange River go mad in a series of deep ravines and dangerous, dizzying cliffs.
The first white man to see the falls was a Swedish-born soldier named Hendrik Wikar. Wikar deserted his post at the Cape in 1775 to escape an accumulation of gambling debts, and for four years he wandered through the uncharted country now known as the northern Cape describing in a journal, and sometimes also mapping, many of the places that he visited. Three years after leaving the Cape, he came to the verge of this immense granite gorge, with the full mass of the Orange River surging down over the ancient rocks.
Today visitors can share in Wikar’s experience by viewing the falls from various observation points along the edge of the gorge. They may also view the river from a suspension footbridge that links the southern bank to the northern, just a short distance above the falls. From these sites one can see how the river, in the course of many million years, has worn through the granite-gneiss base-rock to form a 250 metre deep and 15 km long chasm. This erosion of granite by water is considered by many geologists to be the finest example of its kind in the world.
Contrasting scenery
The Augrabies Falls National Park covers a large area of land on both banks of the river, completely surrounding the falls. One of the most striking aspects of the park is the contrast in its scenery. The banks of the river are painted bright green by the lush vegetation, yet only a few metres away there is little but sand and rock, a virtual desert stretching away to the horizon. The falls themselves are of course the centrepiece, mighty and harshly beautiful, with the river tumbling 65 metres over the edge of a massive granite barrier — into a mysterious pool, 92 metres across and believed to be 130 metres deep.
These falls are regarded as one of the six greatest waterfalls in the world. When the Orange River is in flood, up to 405 million litres of water crash over the granite shelf every minute in 19 separate falls. Best known of the secondary falls is the Bridal Veil Fall, which becomes part of the main falls when the river is in flood. The gorge at this time is shrouded in mist and the noise of the water is deafening.
The deep pool into which the falls plunge is surrounded by sheer cliffs, and is reputed to contain a fortune in diamonds — washed down the river and trapped in the gravel at the bottom. The pool is also claimed to be the home of a ‘river monster’, but sightings of this creature can perhaps be attributed to shoals of giant barbel, which grow to a length of two metres. During a severe drought in the 1930s, a group of thirsty cattle wandered up the dry river bed to the edge of the pool in search of water. Astrong wind blew them into the pool and they were never seen again — which helped to convince many local people that a monster of some kind lurks in the depths.
Augrabies Falls National Park is centred on Klaas Island, just to the west of the main falls. Here there is a caravan park with picnic sites and swimming pools, several bungalows that can be hired, and also an information centre, a shop and a restaurant. In front of the restaurant there is a succulent garden containing roughly 100 species of aloe.
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Comments»
There is no bridge across the river, it was washed away in 1988. Have you been there or are you just trawling?
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