The Place of Roaring Water
“I can hear the water coming,” hospitality-services manager Abigail Losper says excitedly. The change in the sound of the falls is indiscernible to visitors, but to Abigail, who has been at Augrabies for the last two years, the increase is clear.
She explains that the sluice gates at Gariep Dam have been opened, as the recent rains over the Free State catchment area have raised the dam level to capacity, and that higher water is on its way. “The Orange River has risen from from 46 to 310 cumecs [cubic metres per second]. Let’s go and have a look.”
From the boardwalk I see the rise in the water as it thunders down the ravine (the Khoi aptly named it which means ‘the place of great noise’). The water level continues to rise. I check in the evening and again at sunrise, and by that stage it’s a torrent. Certainly the falls are one of the highlights of the 51 000-hectare Augrabies Falls National Park that draws visitors to the arid reaches of the Northern Cape.
