African Orange River - the hope and beauty of the continent

South Africa is poor in any water, including rivers. Those waterways that exist in this area are small, and most of the whole year are more like long-waterless channels. However, even here there are quite long and wide rivers. The largest of them is Limpopo, famous for Chukovsky, the Orange River (which is by no means close in color to an orange) and Vaal.

Difficulties of translation

The name of this waterway was presented by Scot Gordon, who was part of the Dutch expedition. However, he did not at all mean the color of her waters. The orange river was named, in order to perpetuate the ruling dynasty of Holland of those years - the Orange. However, the English writing of the dynastic surname (Orange), and the Dutch (Oranj) also denote an orange. Translator, translating the name of the river into Russian, did not penetrate into the motivating arguments of the Scotsman, that's the river and became Orange. The mistake has long been understood, but the Russian-speaking people are used to the name of the African river: there are riddles, poems and even a cartoon with the mention of the name of this river. So to change the official name did not become.

River geography

The Orange River in Africa is the longest waterway (as many as 1865 km). For some distance, the river is the border between Namibia and other countries. The source of the Orange River is in the mountains of the Dragon, located in the border zones of Lesotho and South Africa. And the first springs of this river are on the slopes of Mount Mont-o-Sourz, above the sea level at 3160 m. At the same time it is called differently at the mountains - Sinku. Only replenished with the tributaries, the Orange River gets the right to the usual name. After all, it becomes quite full after this. By the way, most of the so-called tributaries can be ignored in the calculation of Orange's filling, since they are seasonal, shallow and very dependent on the amount of precipitation. A significant contribution to the fullness is made only by Vaal and Caledon - themselves (by African standards) are not such small rivers.

Finish is the Atlantic Ocean, where the Orange River flows into. An interesting fact can be considered that the place of the confluence of the river with the Atlantic is the Namib desert, which in translation means "Coast of skeletons".

Most of the "body" of the river is in Namibia, South Africa and the neighbor-Lesotho. At a distance of tens of kilometers after replenishing the waters with tributaries, Orange pleases the eye with breadth and fullness. However, having reached arid places, it appreciably becomes shallow. In the dry season, it is not difficult to wade, while the woman does not even wet her skirt (if she is not wearing a ball gown).

In principle, the Orange River can also be classified as seasonal: its fullness is very dependent on precipitation. And the path, which lies in the immediate vicinity of the Kalahari, is very conducive to the strong evaporation of water. That is why the Orange River in Africa is not navigable.

Neighboring rivers

On the north side of the Orange River, Desert and simply arid regions bear their waters of Noob, Kuruman, Mololo and some other rivers that are less noticeable than the same Limpopo, Waal or Orange. However, first of all, these are drying up channels, which become rivers only during rains, so geographers call them seasonal. It is not surprising - the way of these waterways passes through one of the most terrible deserts - the Kalahari, where there is nowhere to take water for reservoirs. Yet for a rainy time they manage to save everything that can survive in the desert.

The majestic waterfall

World famous is the African Victoria Falls, which is considered the largest, beautiful and aquatic on this continent. However, this is one of the most grandiose geographical misconceptions. The orange river boasts a much more magnificent spectacle that belongs to the national park.

The waterfall Augebis was so named by a Finn named Vikar. The name of something like the local residents - the Boers - and subsequently became international. Augrabis - a higher waterfall than Victoria, and more water. The upper point, from where the water in the gorge is dethroned, rises to 146 meters, and the dip itself reaches a depth of almost 200 meters.

Little-known waterfall is easy to explain: around the Orange and Augrabis stretches a frightening Kalahari, almost always impassable even for well-equipped expeditions. Even in the hot season, when the Orange River turns almost into a trickle, getting close to the cliff to admire the waterfall is deadly because of unstable and slippery stones. And in the high water the whole floodplain of the river becomes inaccessible because of the violent floods of the waters; Even conditional roads turn into muddy mud flows. So enthusiastic reviews can be heard mainly from those who watched Augrabis from the helicopter.

Feeding the river

The orange river feeds mainly on rains, which is why it has a "flood regime" in its mode of life. Spills are observed from November to the end of March, with a maximum they reach between mid-February and March. Local states are trying to revive the supervised lands with the help of Orange and its tributary of Vaal. Since the 66th of the last century the project of creating an irrigation system has been implemented, which should cover more than 30,000 hectares of land. The completion was planned for the end of the 20th century, but so far the construction finale is not visible.

Although Africa is considered the most waterless territory on Earth, and on it there is a place for beauty, rivers and waterfalls.