The Blyde River Canyon is a 26km long
Canyon
A canyon (from ; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), or gorge, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tendency to cu ...
located in
Mpumalanga
Mpumalanga () is a province of South Africa. The name means "East", or literally "The Place Where the Sun Rises" in the Swazi, Xhosa, Ndebele and Zulu languages. Mpumalanga lies in eastern South Africa, bordering Eswatini and Mozambique. ...
,
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...
. It is the one of the larger canyons on Earth but much smaller than those of Asia, the
Grand Canyon
The Grand Canyon (, yuf-x-yav, Wi:kaʼi:la, , Southern Paiute language: Paxa’uipi, ) is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States. The Grand Canyon is long, up to wide and attains a depth of over a m ...
and the
Fish River Canyon
The Fish River Canyon (Afrikaans: ''Visrivier Canyon'' or'' Visrivier Kuil'', german: Fischfluss Canyon), is located in the south of Namibia. It is the largest canyon in Africa, as well as the second most visited tourist attraction in Namibia.Ma ...
.
Unlike the Grand and Fish River Canyon, the Blyde River Canyon is a "green canyon" which is dominated by subtropical vegetation. The canyon forms part of the
Blyde River Canyon Nature Reserve
Blyde River Canyon Nature Reserve (or Motlatse Canyon Provincial Nature Reserve) is situated in the Drakensberg escarpment region of eastern Mpumalanga, South Africa. The reserve protects the Blyde River Canyon, including sections of the Ohri ...
.
The Blyde River Canyon passes a rock formation known as the "
Three Rondavels". So named as the formation resembles three African-style houses or
rondavel
Rondavel is a style of African hut known in literature as ''cone on cylinder'' or ''cone on drum.'' The word comes from the Afrikaans ''rondawel''.
Description
The rondavel is usually round or oval in shape and is traditionally made with mate ...
s. This canyon is part of the
Panorama Route. This route starts at the town
Graskop
Graskop is a small town in Mpumalanga province, South Africa. It was set up in the 1880s as a gold mining camp but it now serves as a tourist destination and the timber industry. “ God’s Window”, a scenic view from the escarpment of the Lo ...
and includes
God's Window, the
Pinnacle
A pinnacle is an architectural element originally forming the cap or crown of a buttress or small turret, but afterwards used on parapets at the corners of towers and in many other situations. The pinnacle looks like a small spire. It was mainly ...
and
Bourke's Luck Potholes
Blyde River Canyon Nature Reserve (or Motlatse Canyon Provincial Nature Reserve) is situated in the Drakensberg escarpment region of eastern Mpumalanga, South Africa. The reserve protects the Blyde River Canyon, including sections of the Ohri ...
.
Name
The canyon is named for the river that runs through it, the
Blyde River
The Motlatse River ("Permanent River"), Blyde River ( af, Blyderivier "Glad River"), or Umdhlazi River is a river in the Mpumalanga and Limpopo provinces of South Africa. It has a northwards course in steep-sided valleys and ravines of the Mpumala ...
, now called the
Motlatse River
The Motlatse River ("Permanent River"), Blyde River ( af, Blyderivier "Glad River"), or Umdhlazi River is a river in the Mpumalanga and Limpopo provinces of South Africa. It has a northwards course in steep-sided valleys and ravines of the Mpuma ...
. Blyde means "glad" or "happy"
"Dictionary of Southern African Place Names" by RE Raper - HSRC
/ref> in old Dutch, a name derived from a voortrekker
The Great Trek ( af, Die Groot Trek; nl, De Grote Trek) was a Northward migration of Dutch-speaking settlers who travelled by wagon trains from the Cape Colony into the interior of modern South Africa from 1836 onwards, seeking to live beyo ...
s' expedition. The 'happy river' was thus named in 1844, when Hendrik Potgieter and others returned safely from Delagoa Bay
Maputo Bay ( pt, Baía de Maputo), formerly also known as Delagoa Bay from ''Baía da Lagoa'' in Portuguese, is an inlet of the Indian Ocean on the coast of Mozambique, between 25° 40' and 26° 20' S, with a length from north to south of over 90&n ...
to the rest of their party of trekkers who had considered them dead. While still under this misapprehension they had named the nearby river where they had been encamped, Treurrivier, or 'mourning river'.
In 2005, the Blyde River was renamed to the Motlatse River, and the Mpumalanga Provincial Government announced that the canyon would be renamed as well.
Fauna and flora
The Blyde River Canyon supports large diversity of life, including numerous fish and antelope species as well as hippo
The hippopotamus ( ; : hippopotamuses or hippopotami; ''Hippopotamus amphibius''), also called the hippo, common hippopotamus, or river hippopotamus, is a large semiaquatic mammal native to sub-Saharan Africa. It is one of only two extant ...
s and crocodiles
Crocodiles (family Crocodylidae) or true crocodiles are large semiaquatic reptiles that live throughout the tropics in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australia. The term crocodile is sometimes used even more loosely to include all extant memb ...
, and every primate species that may be seen in South Africa (including both greater and lesser Lesser, from Eliezer (, "Help/Court of my God"), is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Adolf Lesser (1851–1926), German physician
* Aleksander Lesser (1814–1884), Polish painter and art critic
* Anton Lesser (born 1952), Br ...
bushbabies, vervet monkey
The vervet monkey (''Chlorocebus pygerythrus''), or simply vervet, is an Old World monkey of the family Cercopithecidae native to Africa. The term "vervet" is also used to refer to all the members of the genus ''Chlorocebus''. The five distinct ...
s and Samango monkey
Sykes' monkey (''Cercopithecus albogularis''), also known as the white-throated monkey or Samango monkey, is an Old World monkey found between Ethiopia and South Africa, including south and east Democratic Republic of Congo. It is named after Eng ...
s). The diversity of birdlife is similarly high, including the beautiful and much sought Narina trogon as well as species such as the Cape vulture
The Cape vulture (''Gyps coprotheres''), also known as Cape griffon and Kolbe's vulture, is an Old World vulture in the family '' Accipitridae''. It is endemic to southern Africa, and lives mainly in South Africa, Lesotho, Botswana, and in some p ...
, black eagle, crowned eagle
The crowned eagle, also known as the African crowned eagle or the crowned hawk-eagle (''Stephanoaetus coronatus''), is a large bird of prey found in sub-Saharan Africa; in Southern Africa it is restricted to eastern areas.Sinclair & Ryan (2003) ...
, African fish eagle
The African fish eagle (''Haliaeetus vocifer'') or the African sea eagle, is a large species of eagle found throughout sub-Saharan Africa wherever large bodies of open water with an abundant food supply occur. It is the national bird of Malawi, Na ...
, gymnogene, jackal buzzard
The jackal buzzard (''Buteo rufofuscus'') is a fairly large African bird of prey. The taxonomy of this species has caused some confusion in the past and it almost certainly belongs in a species complex with other African ''Buteo'' species. Some ...
, white-rumped vulture, bald ibis, African finfoot
The African finfoot (''Podica senegalensis'') is an aquatic bird from the family Heliornithidae (the finfoots and sungrebe). The species lives in the rivers and lakes of western, central, and southern Africa.
Description
The African finfoot is an ...
, Knysna lourie
The Knysna turaco (''Tauraco corythaix''), or, in South Africa, Knysna loerie, is a large turaco, one of a group of African musophagidae birds. It is a resident breeder in the mature evergreen forests of southern and eastern South Africa, and Swa ...
, purple-crested lourie, Gurney's sugarbird, malachite sunbird
The malachite sunbird (''Nectarinia famosa'') is a small nectarivorous bird found from the highlands of Ethiopia southwards to South Africa. They pollinate many flowering plants, particularly those with long corolla tubes, in the Fynbos.
Taxonom ...
, cinnamon dove, African emerald cuckoo
The African emerald cuckoo (''Chrysococcyx cupreus'') is a species of cuckoo that is native to Africa.
Taxonomy and phylogeny
As a member of the family Cuculidae, the African emerald cuckoo is an Old World cuckoo. There are four subspecies, name ...
, red-backed mannikin, golden-tailed woodpecker
The golden-tailed woodpecker (''Campethera abingoni'') is a species of bird in the family Picidae. Its specific name commemorates the 5th Earl of Abingdon. It belongs to a species complex that includes the Knysna woodpecker to the south of it ...
, olive bush shrike, green twinspot
The green-backed twinspot or green twinspot (''Mandingoa nitidula'') is an estrildid finch found in many parts of Sub-Saharan Africa. The IUCN has classified the species as being of least concern
A least-concern species is a species that ha ...
, Taita falcon
The Taita falcon (''Falco fasciinucha'') is a small falcon found in central and eastern Africa. It was first described from the Taita Hills of Kenya from which it derives its name.
Description
The Taita falcon is a small, rare raptor species. ...
s (very rarely sighted, a breeding pair lives in the nearby Abel Erasmus Pass
Abel Erasmus Pass is situated in the Limpopo Province, on the R36 road between Ohrigstad and Tzaneen, South Africa. It navigates the Manoutsa section of the Limpopo Drakensberg. Since 1959 the road passes through the 133 m long JG Strijdom ...
), Cape eagle owl, white-faced owl, wood owl, peregrine falcon
The peregrine falcon (''Falco peregrinus''), also known as the peregrine, and historically as the duck hawk in North America, is a cosmopolitan bird of prey (raptor) in the family Falconidae. A large, crow-sized falcon, it has a blue-grey bac ...
, black-breasted snake eagle, Wahlberg's eagle
Wahlberg's eagle (''Hieraaetus wahlbergi'') is a bird of prey that is native to sub-Saharan Africa, where it is a seasonal migrant in the woodlands and savannas.
It is named after the Swedish naturalist Johan August Wahlberg. Like all eagles, it ...
, long-crested eagle
The long-crested eagle (''Lophaetus occipitalis'') is an African bird of prey. Like all eagles, it is in the family Accipitridae. It is currently placed in a monotypic genus ''Lophaetus''. It is characterized by the feathers making up the shaggy ...
, lanner falcon
The lanner falcon (''Falco biarmicus'') is a medium-sized bird of prey that breeds in Africa, southeast Europe and just into Asia. It prefers open habitat and is mainly resident, but some birds disperse more widely after the breeding season. A l ...
, red-breasted sparrowhawk, rock kestrel
The rock kestrel (''Falco rupicolus'') is a bird of prey species belonging to the kestrel group of the falcon family Falconidae. It was previously considered a subspecies of the common kestrel (''Falco tinnunculus'').
This species occurs in Afri ...
and others.
Kadishi waterfall
At , the Kadishi Tufa waterfall is the second tallest tufa
Tufa is a variety of limestone formed when carbonate minerals precipitate out of water in unheated rivers or lakes. Geothermally heated hot springs sometimes produce similar (but less porous) carbonate deposits, which are known as travertin ...
waterfall on earth. A tufa waterfall is formed when water running over dolomite rock absorbs calcium, and deposits rock formations more rapidly than they erode the surrounding rock. In the case of the Kadishi Tufa fall, the formation that has been produced strikingly resembles a face which is crying profusely, and is thus sometimes known as 'the weeping face of nature'.
Tourism
The canyon and the surrounding Drakensberg
The Drakensberg (Afrikaans: Drakensberge, Zulu: uKhahlambha, Sotho: Maluti) is the eastern portion of the Great Escarpment, which encloses the central Southern African plateau. The Great Escarpment reaches its greatest elevation – within t ...
escarpment
An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that forms as a result of faulting or erosion and separates two relatively level areas having different elevations.
The terms ''scarp'' and ''scarp face'' are often used interchangeably with ''esca ...
is a very popular tourist region with a well-developed tourism industry supported by good public infrastructure.
References
External links
{{commons category, Blyde River Canyon
The Panorama (''including the Blyde River Canyon'') on Mpumalanga Tourism
Landforms of Mpumalanga
Protected areas of Mpumalanga
Canyons and gorges of South Africa
Tourist attractions in Mpumalanga