The Augrabies Falls is a

waterfall A waterfall is any 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 seve ...

on the

Orange River The Orange River (from Afrikaans/Dutch language, Dutch: ''Oranjerivier'') is a river in Southern Africa. It is the longest river in South Africa. With a total length of , the Orange River Basin extends from Lesotho into South Africa and Namibi ...

, the largest river in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. Since 1966 the waterfall, set in a desolate and rugged milieu, is enclosed by the

Augrabies Falls National Park Augrabies Falls National Park is a national park located around the Augrabies Falls, about 120 km west of Upington in the Northern Cape Province, South Africa. The Augrabies Falls National Park covers an area of 820 km2 and stretches ...

. The falls are around in height. Some sources cite an approximate height of 480 feet; this is actually the height from the base of the canyon to the top of the walls, not that of the falls themselves.

Exploration

The original

Khoikhoi Khoikhoi (Help:IPA/English, /ˈkɔɪkɔɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''KOY-koy'') (or Khoekhoe in Namibian orthography) are the traditionally Nomad, nomadic pastoralist Indigenous peoples, indigenous population of South Africa. They ...

residents named the waterfall "Ankoerebis" — "place of great noise" — from which the Trek Boers, who settled here later on, derived the name, "Augrabies". The last leader of area's native residents was Klaas Pofadder who lived on an island upstream of the falls, now known as Klaas Island. The first European to see the falls was the renegade Swedish mercenary Hendrik Jakob Wikar. He arrived at the falls in October 1778, after years long wanderings in the wilderness. When another traveler, George Thompson, was led to the falls by his Koranna guides in 1826, he named it after

King George IV George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from 29 January 1820 until his death in 1830. At the time of his accession to the throne, h ...

Size

The Augrabies Falls have recorded of water every second in floods in 1988 (and in the floods of 2006). This is over three times the average high season flow rate of

Niagara Falls Niagara Falls is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the Canada–United States border, border between the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario in Canada and the state of New York (s ...

of per second, more than four times Niagara's annual average, and greater than Niagara's all-time record of per second. The gorge at the Augrabies Falls is deep and long, and is an impressive example of granite erosion.

Dangers

Since 1966, more than 20 people have fallen to their death in the gorge, and five have been swept over the falls. A Scandinavian tourist however survived a fall into the gorge in 1979, as did a man who was swept over the falls in October 1981. The bodies of others were trapped in the plunge pool below and never found. Similarly, animals including cattle and hippopotamuses have been swept over the falls. File:Augrabies Falls 1.JPG , The waterfall from the viewing platform Image:Augrabies Falls.jpg , Augrabies Falls during the winter File:Augrabie 01.jpg , The waterfall in flood

Folklore

Folklore among early twentieth-century South African prospectors describes the pool beneath the King George Cataract as being filled with diamonds, which are carried by currents down the Orange River. Additionally, the pool is also claimed to be the lair of a serpentine monster called the

Grootslang The Grootslang or Grote Slang (Afrikaans and Dutch for "big snake") is a legendary creature that is reputed to dwell in a deep cave in the Richtersveld, South Africa. Appearance The Grootslang is described as being in length, and to leave a tra ...

References

External links