Augrabies waterfalls

The Augrabies Waterfalls in
the Augrabies National Park

The Northern Cape has a couple of interesting places to visit. One of them is indeed the Augrabies waterfalls. I haven’t so much learned about the Oranje River in the school, unfortunately. However, the most important thing was, that the river is the biggest in South Africa. Also, the river coming from Lesotho’s Drakenbergs and crossing South Africa from the east to the west.

The Augrabies Waterfalls locating in the Augrabies National Park in the northwest of South Africa close to the Namibian border. The Augrabies National Park is a game park and includes the Augrabies falls and the canyon. The Northern Cape is huge and the distances are far. It is a three a half hour ride by car via Upington to Augrabies for me. The road leads along grape yards and the river banks in the Oranje valley. But not all the ways.

The Augrabies park is an amazing place. It is a wild landscape with the Oranje river gorge in-between. The gorge is a massive granite formation and shaped by the Oranje River over centuries.

The main camp with reception, restaurant and a little shop is the starting point. From here the adventure starts.  The well-signposted ways to platforms installed along the gorge are easy to walk. It takes just a few minutes and a breathtaking view awaits me. From the platforms, I got a beautiful view over the gorge with the waterfalls and all the rocky landscape.

Well prepared and maintained facilities middle in the nowhere surprising me really. Actually, the waterfall is a cascade with several stages. That is obviously because of the low water level of the Oranje River. Moreover, it is the dry season now. Anyway, the seething and foaming water finally flows into the gorge.