Augrabies Falls National Park - The Falls
The magnificent Augrabies Falls when in full flow is an impressive and awe inspiring event, these falls are all the more impressive because they are situated in the dry Northern Cape, South Africa.
When in full flow the contrast of the dry surroundings with that of the falls make this one of the most spectacular falls in the world.
During February 2021 good rains in Orange River catchment area meant that the Augrabies Falls were going to be impressive when the floodwaters eventually reached the falls. Usually the falls consist only of the main fall that sometimes drops to a rather small stream meandering down the gorge. However, when the volume picks up the water floods across the floodplain behind the falls and eventually spills over at various points into the gorge forming the Bridal Veil Falls. The Bridal Veil Falls are only really spectacular when the Orange River is in flood and that usually only happens once every decade.
We watched carefully as the figures came through of the rising waters and realised that this was going to be our once in a lifetime event and that we could not, dare not miss it! We hastily checked for availability at the Augrabies Falls National Park and were lucky to be able to book a chalet for a few days.
Covid-19 had put a damper on a lot of planned trips and holidays for many but fortunately once again, there were no travel bans. Things could have been so different, a travel ban a year earlier meant that nobody would have been able to see this spectacular event had it taken place in 2020!
Just over 1000kms later and we were awestruck! Nothing could prepare you for the sight of these falls, no amount of watching videos of previous floods or looking at photographs. You had to experience this in real life, see it, hear it and above all feel the ground beneath your feet tremble from the sheer force of tons of falling water!
How do you describe the masses of water tumbling over the edge, the turmoil as tons of water collide, huge rock faces wet with spray and rainbows. No matter where you were, there was always a rainbow to see as the spray was sent many meters up into the air. Depending where you stood you too could become drenched in seconds. That was also a bonus if you needed a quick "shower" to cool down in the heat of the day. A hyrax trapped on rocks further upstream tells the tale of how quickly the water rose, leaving some to sit in the hot summer sun unable to reach safety.
Daytime temperatures soared to over 40 degrees and air-conditioned chalets were a welcome relief, so to was the swimming pool. Lounging for more than an hour in the swimming pool was the norm in the heat of the day, getting out just to have lunch. The falls were off limits for us during the day as we preferred the lesser crowed falls, that being in the early morning before the gates opened for the day visitors and again late afternoon after the day visitors had left. Day visitors topped more than 3000 per day at one point and with Covid-19 still a real threat we opted for the swimming pool or our chalet during the high traffic times.
Three days in the presence of these magnificent falls in full flood is something that will live with us for a very long long time. Thunder clouds rolled in on our last day and a spattering of rain that was over almost before it started sent some campers scurrying for cover, viewing of the falls by spotlight over for the evening.
Approximate flow of the falls was 2600 cumec (2600 cubic meters per second) when we were there although it had gone over 3000 cumec the weekend before, the normal average flow is just over 300 cumec. The main fall drops over 56m to the gorge below while the Bridal Veil Falls is around 75m.
Take a walk with us along the boardwalks to viewpoint 1 to 3 and then check in on viewpoints 5 & 6. We skipped viewpoint 4 for the video because of the amount of spray caused by the masses of cascading water but it was certainly a most popular view point to cool off in the cool spray on a hot Kalahari day!
Click on the picture below as we take you for a walk along the boardwalk to the main falls. This link will take you to YouTube. More photographs are in the main gallery.
