Epupa Falls (also known as Monte Negro Falls in

Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

) is a series of large

waterfall A waterfall is a point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in several wa ...

s formed by the

Cunene River The Cunene (Portuguese spelling) or Kunene (common Namibian spelling) is a river in Southern Africa. It flows from the Angola highlands south to the border with Namibia. It then flows west along the border until it reaches the Atlantic Ocean. It ...

on the border of Angola and

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

, in the

Kaokoland Kaokoland was an administrative unit and a ''bantustan'' in northern South West Africa (now Namibia). Established during the apartheid era, it was intended to be a self-governing homeland of the OvaHimba, but an actual government was never e ...

area of the

Kunene Region Kunene is one of the fourteen regions of Namibia. Its capital is Opuwo, its governor is Marius Sheya. The region's name comes from the Kunene River which forms the northern border with Angola. Besides the capital Opuwo, the region contains the ...

. The river is about wide in this area and drops in a series of waterfalls across a length of , with the greatest single drop being in height. The settlement near the falls is also called Epupa. The name "Epupa" is a

Herero Herero may refer to: * Herero people, a people belonging to the Bantu group, with about 240,000 members alive today * Herero language, a language of the Bantu family (Niger-Congo group) * Herero and Namaqua Genocide * Herero chat, a species of b ...

word for "foam", in reference to the foam created by the falling water. The

Epupa Constituency Epupa ( hz, Falling Waters) is a constituency in the Kunene Region of Namibia. Its population in 2004 was 12,816. , it has 12,182 registered voters. The villages of Epupa, Otjomuru, Ohamaremba and Okangwati belong to the Epupa constituency. E ...

is named for the falls.

Ecology

Due to the specialised nature of this steep riparian habitat, the Epupa Falls are the locus of

endemism Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

for a number of fish and other aquatic species.

Access

Despite being difficult to reach (a

four-wheel drive Four-wheel drive, also called 4×4 ("four by four") or 4WD, refers to a two-axled vehicle drivetrain capable of providing torque to all of its wheels simultaneously. It may be full-time or on-demand, and is typically linked via a transfer case ...

vehicle is recommended to reach them from

Opuwo Opuwo is the capital of the Kunene Region in north-western Namibia. The town is situated about 720 km north-northwest from the capital Windhoek, and has a population of 20,000. It is the commercial hub of the Kunene Region. Economy and inf ...

), the falls are a major visitor attraction in Namibia because of the largely unspoiled environment, with

fig tree ''Ficus'' ( or ) is a genus of about 850 species of woody trees, shrubs, vines, epiphytes and hemiepiphytes in the family Moraceae. Collectively known as fig trees or figs, they are native throughout the tropics with a few species extending int ...

baobab ''Adansonia'' is a genus made up of eight species of medium-to-large deciduous trees known as baobabs ( or ). They are placed in the Malvaceae family, subfamily Bombacoideae. They are native to Madagascar, mainland Africa, and Australia.Tropic ...

makalani palm ''Hyphaene petersiana'', the real fan palm or makalani palm, is a palm tree native to the subtropical, low-lying regions of south central Africa. Range and habitat It is found in Burundi, Rwanda, the DRC, Tanzania, Angola, Mozambique, Malawi, ...

s, and coloured rock walls framing the falls. The

Ruacana Falls Ruacana Falls is a waterfalls located in Ruacana, Omusati on the Kunene River in Northern Namibia. The waterfall is high and wide in full flood. It is among the largest waterfalls in Africa, both by volume and width. Description The Kun ...

in northern

are located upstream. There are four lodges accommodating visitors to the area, namely Kapika Waterfall Lodge, Omarunga Camp Lodge, Epupa Camp Lodge, and Epupa Falls Campsite Lodge. All these lodges have campsites except Kapika Waterfall Lodge plus Motjikutu campsite, which is a locally owned campsite. Activities in the area range from guided tours to the falls and Himba villages around Epupa Falls, birdwatching, excursions to see crocodiles, and a variety of vegetation featuring trees like baobab and

Mopane tree ''Colophospermum mopane'', commonly called mopane, mopani, balsam tree, butterfly tree, or turpentine tree, is a tree in the legume family ( Fabaceae), that grows in hot, dry, low-lying areas, in elevation, in the far northern parts of southern ...

s, the dominant species in the area. Tourists are also offered whitewater rafting at Epupa Camp.

People

Epupa Falls is known for the semi-nomadic

Ovahimba people The Himba (singular: OmuHimba, plural: OvaHimba) are an indigenous people with an estimated population of about 50,000 people living in northern Namibia, in the Kunene Region (formerly Kaokoland) and on the other side of the Kunene River in sout ...

as well as other tribes like the Ovatjimba, Ovazemba, and Ovatwa people. Migration to Epupa Falls is constantly increasing due to high tourism growth, which further sees tribes of Herero- and Ovambo-speaking peoples migrate to the area.

In the media

Epupa Falls are featured in the 8th episode of the first season of ''

The Grand Tour ''The Grand Tour'' is a British motoring television series, created by Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, James May and Andy Wilman, made for Amazon exclusively for its online streaming service Amazon Prime Video, and premiered on 18 Novembe ...

'', being the termination point of a journey in beach buggies through Namibia.

References

Sources

* C.Michael Hogan. 2012
''Kunene River''. eds. P.Saundry & C.Cleveland. Encyclopedia of Earth. National Council for Science and the Environment. Washington DC.
{{Namibia-geo-stub Waterfalls of Namibia Waterfalls of Angola Otjiherero words and phrases Angola–Namibia border International waterfalls