Augrabis waterfall. Nature miracle

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Augrabis waterfall. Nature miracle

Wonders of nature

Most people who are not too sophisticated in geography consider the famous Victoria Falls to be the highest and most beautiful waterfall in Africa. However, this opinion, alas, is not true. Victoria is inferior in height to the fantastic 900-meter Tugela cascade in the Dragon Mountains of South Africa, and the Lofoi waterfall in Zaire falling from a height of 340 meters with a powerful water ram, and the precious decoration of the shores of Lake Tanganyika - the 220-meter Kalambo.

As for the picturesqueness of the picture, then, right, the green frame of the jungle and the snow-white clouds of spray surrounding Victoria Falls are not the only criterion for waterfall beauty. No less impressive is the gloomy indomitable power, some kind of ferocious riot of the water element against the backdrop of lifeless granite rocks, which is the South African Augrabis waterfall. Incidentally, it also exceeds Victoria in height, falling from the 146-meter steep edge of the plateau into a gorge cut by the Orange River in crystalline rocks.

Augrabis waterfall

Few have seen this miracle of nature. Augrabis is reliably protected from curious aliens by the endless desert expanses of the Kalahari, along the southern border of which the largest river in South Africa, the Orange, tends to the ocean. The name of this river is connected, by the way, not at all with some special color of its water. The Dutch Boer settlers who simply settled here named it so after the name of the Dutch ruling house of the princes of Orange (in Dutch - Orange). Its mighty water stream, only half the size of the well-known Niger, begins from the impregnable cliffs of the Drakensberg Mountains, which rise almost four kilometers above the coast of the Indian Ocean.

Descending from the mountains to an elevated plain called the High Weld, the Orange River merges with its main tributary - the Vaal River - and rushes further west, crossing the entire continent to end its journey on the Atlantic coast, among the giant sand dunes of the Namib Desert, it is no coincidence bearing in everyday life the eloquent nickname "Skeleton Coast".

In front of the waterfall, Orange spills into a chaos of rocky islets, forming a kind of delta seven kilometers wide. The water stream, rushing into the main of the numerous channels, bursts into a narrow stone gap and with a frightening roar falls down to the granite foot of the ledge. Having flown almost one and a half hundred meters, a powerful river (its flow in high water exceeds a thousand cubic meters per second!) Hits a rocky bed with force and boils in a deepening pierced by it over many centuries - a "giant cauldron", as hydrologists call it. At the same time, the waterfall raises waves as high as a two-story house. In the clouds of water spray, rising a hundred meters above Augrabis, an eternal rainbow sparkles.

The roar of the waterfall, amplified by a booming echo, rumbles far across the neighborhood. No wonder the local Hottentots gave it such a name ("Augrabis" in their language means "a very noisy place"). By the way, they are afraid to approach the waterfall and go around it for several miles, because they are sure that an evil and treacherous deity lives in a deep pool under Augrabis, whose voice is heard from the depths of the gorge.

Among the Boers, there were persistent rumors that in the "gigantic cauldron" of Augrabis, over many centuries, a myriad of large diamonds had accumulated, brought by the Orange River from its upper reaches and the upper reaches of the Vaal, where diamond deposits have long been known.

It was there, in the Transvaal, that the largest known diamond in the world, the Cullinan, was found at one time, weighing three thousand carats, that is, six hundred grams! Let us add that a large diamond placer is currently being developed in Alexander Bay, at the confluence of the Orange River with the ocean. So there were quite real grounds for the emergence of such a legend. They also say that many years ago, in an exceptionally hot summer, when the river was almost dry, several daredevils decided to dive into a stone bowl under the waterfall, but only one of them returned from the abyss. Having got out on the shore, he fell dead. When the comrades opened his fist, they saw two magnificent diamonds of pure water. But there were no more willing to take risks, and to this day the treasures of the waterfall rest at the bottom, under the reliable protection of the roaring jets of a violent river flying from the ledge into the abyss.

True, for three quarters of the year, until the rainy season comes, Orange is not a river, but a river, and anyone can cross it on protruding stones. But even at this time, it is not easy to get to the edge of the waterfall along slippery stones: one wrong step threatens to fall into the roaring abyss of the canyon. However, the opening spectacle more than rewards the risk. It is during the dry season that the Orange Gorge, devoid of greenery, looks especially gloomy and majestic.

If the traveler dares to get close to the foot of the waterfall, overcoming the stone heaps of a ten-kilometer canyon, then, in addition to the breathtaking view of the roaring water wall falling vertically from the height of a skyscraper, he will find dozens of strange round holes of different diameters at the bottom of the gorge. They were carved by stones lying in the recesses of the rock, which, under the influence of falling jets, rotated in one place for hundreds of years. Some of these "wells" reach a depth of two meters, and at the bottom of them always lies the "culprit of what happened" - a pebble or a boulder. In the process of rock drilling, they also became smooth and rounded.

When is the rainy season. The orange one swells and, flooding the shores, rapidly rushes to the ocean, rolling huge boulders and washing away bridges. Unfortunately, at this time it is impossible to approach Augrabis, and only from a helicopter or plane you can see one of the most beautiful places in Africa - a formidable and majestic waterfall on the Orange River.

Author: B.Wagner

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