Mish Place of great noise, Augrabies!

Main waterfall at Augrabies

Last Saturday I returned to the majestic Augrabies Waterfalls in the Northern Cape for a six year overdue visit and a great family gathering. To give some background on our setting, the falls are situated along the Orange River ravine and are collectively known as the ‘Place of great noise’. With a name like this, it is not hard to believe that Augrabies is one of five of the world’s largest waterfalls with a 56 meter drop and an average flow rate greater than that of Niagra Falls. This makes for an epic and raucous roar and a meeting place of the loud and even more boisterous!

The Northern Cape feels like a step back in time where everything is pure, the air is fresh and farming is the order of the day. My grandfather lives in Kakamas which is about 40km away from the waterfalls and also where we stayed whilst on holiday.

My cousins and I chose the falls as our holiday playground, to catch up and share anecdotes. As we approached the falls, excitement started building and we were probably as noisy as the roaring of the falls we could hear upon entering the park. We were immediately greeted by giant aloe, known as the Kokerboom or quiver tree that the San people used to make arrows with. Being part of the SAN Parks, we paid a small entrance fee of R27 per person for a day pass which gave us access to braai facilities and a day of exploration until 18:00 the evening. After paying for our passes, we headed off to the assigned braai spots.

The park was not very full as it is low season, but as it is quite an attraction for foreigners, we shared the park with many French and Dutch tourists. We started our fire and unpacked our goodies and had the ‘locals’ drop in on our party unannounced.We had blue apes drop in and attempt to help themselves to our boerewors rolls! This is a common occurrence and quite a nuisance in  Augrabies. They are very forceful and will not back down, since you are on their turf. We were on ape watch and my cousin’s four-year-old son kept them away by throwing them with ice cubes.

After an enjoyable braai, good company and fully tummy, we were set to explore the park and make our way to the falls on foot. It took us 15-20 minutes to reach the trails to the falls. We met saw dassies as we walked along sandstone and rocky outcrops.

Last year Augrabies experienced numerous tremors and floods. The large volumes of water destroyed and washed away many bridges and walkways, leaving a lot of reconstruction work to be done. Each of the falls is about 10 to 15 minutes away from each other and each one more breathtaking than the other. If you are lucky, you can see leopards, jackals and wild cats off in the distance.

As the late afternoon turned to dusk, we made our way back to the car but decided to stop at Augrabies restaurant in the park for some sustenance and a grand discovery was made by all…We discovered the most delicious milkshakes served in the Northern Cape. We wrapped up with a scrumptious ribs, chips and either lime or strawberry milkshakes. The service was impeccable and as the day at the park was spectacular.

For more information on Augrabies National Park, visit http://bit.ly/IRN4E3. The park also offers accommodation, river rafting, hiking trails and so much more.