Today’s photos come from reader and UK resident Stephen Warren, and includes, arguagly, what is the world’s tallest waterfall. Stephen’s photos are indented, and you can enlarge them by clicking on them.
Tugela Falls via the chainladders
Tugela Falls is a stream that plunges over the Amphitheatre escarpment in the Drakensberg mountains, located in South Africa just to the East of the border with Lesotho. It is usually listed as the second tallest waterfall in the world in terms of total drop, after Angel Falls in Venezuela, which also holds the record for the greatest single drop. However as noted here, recent measurements indicate that Tulgela Falls may actually be taller than Angel Falls for total drop.
The Amphitheatre is an escarpment 5km long with a cliff some 4000 ft high over much of its length followed by a more gentle descent into the valley. As you can see, and some may remember, it was used as the backdrop to the film “Zulu”, which depicted the battle of Rorke’s Drift. That’s not unreasonable because Rorke’s Drift (and Isandlwana) is only 60 miles away. The big knob on the right hand side is the Sentinel and the walk cuts across the bottom and reaches the plateau at the top, at 9700 ft elevation. from the RH side.
We stayed at the Witsieshoek Mountain Lodge, which on a good day has a spectacular view of the Amphitheatre, but the weather was cloudy for much of our visit, and I have had to string together the best pics taken at different times They are a bit mediocre, but I think convey the thrill of the walk. Here is the view from the Lodge. The lodge is near the town of Phuthaditjhaba, formerly named Witsieshoek:
The lodge was built to facilitate the hike to the top of Tugela Falls, although there are many alternative attractive hikes to try. The route starts at the Sentinel car park, at 8200 ft elevation, and involves a fairly easy climb of some 1500 ft, until you get to the exhilarating chainladders. These involve two vertical pitches of some 80ft and 50ft. You need a cool head for these, particularly the first one, although everyone I spoke to who had done the walk insisted they found it terribly easy!
The Lodge provide a lift to the Sentinel car park in a 4WD. The road is in terrible shape and it was a very uncomfortable ride. Here is the start of the walk, looking up to the Sentinel. I did the walk with my son George, who you will see in some of the pictures:
I was surprised to see native flowers on the route that I have in my garden. This is a Nerine:
This, I think, is an Osteospermum:
. . . and this is a Lobelia:
On the drive from Bloemfontein to the lodge (4.5h) we frequently saw Cosmos in the fields. So I checked, and Cosmos is in fact native to the Americas, and it came to South Africa in contaminated horsefeed in the 2nd Boer War.The first part of the walk was paved, but once we got into the rocky parts it was still never hard going, and we didn’t suffer from the elevation either. We eventually reached the chainladders, by which time we were in the clouds. Here is a view from the bottom of the first pitch (this was actually taken on the way down),
. . . and then a picture take from the top of the first pitch.
The top is a plateau, and it is a gentle 25min walk over to the top of Tugela Falls. The stream is only small:
Finally, my son George at the top of (probably) the tallest waterfall in the world, but we couldn’t see much of it:
Here is a great picture from the Tugela Falls wiki page to get a better idea:
We did the whole walk in 4.5h, up and down.
Jeebus, George: Careful! Great photos. I did not look ahead at pictures first and then go back to text as I often do. So the first picture of the chain ladder looking up in the fog was a wonderful surprise after the flowers. Your half-day hike looks to be a full day adventure for me. I love the large vistas. BTW, do you know the origin of the stream that appears to flow along the plateau to then create the falls? Thanks, Stephan!
(apologies if this reply appears twice, but the first version seems to have disappeared)
The plateau isn’t completely flat, and there is a peak, 1000 ft higher, 3km away called Mont-Aux-Sources, so named because it is the source of several rivers, including the Tugela. The Tugela stream becomes the grand Tugela River which flows to the east coast. But two other rivers formed here, the Caledon and the Elands, are part of the basin of the Orange River which flows to the west coast. So raindrops falling a few hundred metres apart have a very different future!
(apologies if this reply appears twice, but the first version seems to have disappeared)
The plateau isn’t completely flat, and there is a peak, 1000 ft higher, 3km away called Mont-Aux-Sources, so named because it is the source of several rivers, including the Tugela. The Tugela stream becomes the grand Tugela River which flows to the east coast. But two other rivers formed here, the Caledon and the Elands, are part of the basin of the Orange River which flows to the west coast. So raindrops falling a few hundred metres apart have a very different future!
Thanks. The wikipedia Mount Aux Sources article did not give those interesting topographic details. One more question please: is the stream only seasonal rainfall-fed or is there an underground aquifer at Mount-Aux-Source providing a small but continuous flow?
It’s all rainfall. I don’t know if it ever dries up. I asked the gatekeeper at the Sentinel car park, Isaac, but I couldn’t make sense of his answer!
Thanks!
Local to the area here: Absolutely, the stream does dry up at the end of the rainy season. This is a summer rainfall area. Being in the Southern Hemisphere that’s about November to March. The Amphitheater has frequent patches of snow from May to October that will solidify any patches of water.
All/mostly new to me – refreshing account!
Wonderful pics and narrative. I’d love to take that hike, although that ladder might be a tad too exhilarating for my tastes.
Isn’t our host going to SAfrica this summer? Is this on the itinerary?
Wow! I get vertigo just from looking at these pictures. No way could I manage the metal ladders. or standing like your son at the top of the waterfall!
+1
I had the same reaction.
Yikes!
The greens look SO GREEN. Beautiful spot.
Same here. Vertigo with just a glance!
Scary. I’m not going up that ladder(!), but the view from the top is amazing.
You’re a better man than I am Gunga-Din!
Kudos and thx for the excellent adventure and pics.
D.A.
NYC
Glorious. 🙂
Thanks and stay safe!
That looks like a wonderful hike and adventure. Like other readers, I don’t know if I could handle those chain ladders as I’m weary of heights.
Interesting comments regarding the Cosmos flowers. During March and April, it grows profusely next to most roads in South Africa, especially on the interior plateau (called the highveld). These indeed originate from seeds that were in bales of feed that were imported to South Africa during the Anglo Boer War (1899-1902). According to some reports as many as 360 000 horses were imported to South Africa by the British forces, and unlike the hardy local ponies mostly used by the Boer (South African) soldiers, these horses could not survive from the veld, and enormous quantities of feed had to be imported for them. The horses were also not at all acclimatized to the harsh South African conditions, and massive numbers of them died during the war. In some ways it is terribly sad that these beautiful flowers to this day commemorate the deaths of so many thousands of innocent animals.
Lovely! May I give a recommendation to all who have not watched Zulu? It’s an excellent film, exciting and it largely adheres to the actual history. Eleven Victoria Crosses were awarded to the survivors (it was not possible to award them posthumously at the time), though some of that generosity may have been a reaction to the terrible mess at Isandlwana the day before. Stanley Baker gave a wonderful performance, and a young Michael Caine did well. For me though, the portrayal of Colour Sergeant Frank Bourne by Nigel Green is the most inspiring. Even if you don’t approve of the British Empire, it encapsulates all that was good, and bad, about it.
Wow! Gorgeous. Thanks for these.