Amanzimtoti River or also known as Manzimtoti River (which is its official name), is a short river in the

KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN and known as "the garden province") is a province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu) and Natal Province were merged. It is loca ...

province of

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 count ...

, that originates northwest of

Adams Mission Adams Mission is a town in eThekwini in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. The settlement is situated west of KwaMakhutha and Amanzimtoti and south of Durban. History Established in 1836 as a Medical mission, the settlement was destroy ...

, and flows through the town of Amanzimtoti,

. The N2 crosses the river just before its mouth at the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by ...

. (coordinates river mouth see Manzimtoti Lagoon).

Etymology

Zulu king Shaka is said to have named the river after drinking the waters and exclaiming in

isiZulu Zulu (), or isiZulu as an endonym, is a Southern Bantu language of the Nguni branch spoken in Southern Africa. It is the language of the Zulu people, with about 12 million native speakers, who primarily inhabit the province of KwaZulu-Natal o ...

"Kanti amanzi mtoti" meaning "So, the water is sweet". The river came to be known to English speakers as Amanzimtoti ("Sweet Waters"). The Zulu word for "sweet" is mnandi, but Shaka's mother had the name Nandi, so he is said to have invented the word 'toti' to replace mnandi, so as not to wear out her name. Recently it has been proposed to officially change the name to Manzamtoti to more accurately reflect the isiZulu pronunciation and spelling, though many Amanzimtoti residents still refer to the river as Amanzimtoti River, Manzimtoti River or simply Toti River. A recent alternative, and unpopular, suggestion for the origin of the name of the river is in the isiZulu word 'udoti' meaning dirt, which fits more closely with 'toti', and that the name actually means "Dirty Water".M.Purves, 2010

History

The river was once flanked by extensive marsh-lands and reed-beds, but these were filled in to build the town centre and a rubbish dump. The rubbish dump was later covered over and developed into sports fields. At one time it was possible to travel by boat from the town centre to the River Gardens Hotel, which was a popular Sunday activity. Siltation eventually made this impossible, until the river was dredged a number of times in the 1990s. However the dredging process was seen by some conservationists as destructive, and by others as expensive. The river has once again silted to a large extent. The river is now flanked in a portion by a nature reserve called

Ilanda Wilds Ilanda Wilds is a nature reserve along Amanzimtoti River in the town of Amanzimtoti, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.Swart, C. ''Ilanda wilds - our own natural garden'': South Coast Sun: 13 October 1974. This small area of land (Pooley, T. and Play ...

. The river and nature reserve are home to a number of rare and endangered species, and high

biodiversity Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic ('' genetic variability''), species ('' species diversity''), and ecosystem ('' ecosystem diversity' ...

compared to the size of the area. File:Amanzimtoti Lagoon 2.JPG, Amanzimtoti Lagoon File:Amanzimtoti River Ilanda.JPG, Amanzimtoti River at

References

{{coord, 30, 03, S, 30, 53, E, display=title, region:ZA_type:river_source:GNS-enwiki Rivers of KwaZulu-Natal

Etymology

History

See also

References