River Blade canyon

This place has mythical name – Dragon Mountains. Its face became rough in the course of hundreds of creeks, small rivers and rivers, which arranged, with its deep valleys, this table-land in nearly untransitable mountain terrain. One of these rivers, there was inconspicuous  Blyde-river, creating with its steady activity in mountain massif very surprising, even imposing, canyon, stepping back from mountain range border into rocks interior in a length of 24 kms. The river, lost deeply in narrow valley passes desert prospectors´ basis, with moss covered steep and rugged rock walls, where you can hear songs of exotic birds, and thousands of small springs are hidden here. Only baboons´ roar could be heard from dilapidated golddiggers´ camps.

This extraordinary canyon mouths, together with Blyde river, at the edge of mountain range, in high broken (breakage) wall, known as Great Escarpment, offering one of most beautiful views of the whole African continent. This sharp breakage is a gate between two quite different worlds at the same time, such as table-land Highveld and sea-coastal plain Lowveld, slowly sloping down to waters of warm Indian Ocean. But, before Blyde leaves mountain-pressure and goes through 1000 metres high wall, it passes lines of dominant peaks. Most striking of all, there are three peaks of massif round rocky towers, named as Three Rondels. These towers obtained its name, thanks to similarity with traditional homes of Africans. These are earthen buildings covered with reeds or papyrus.

From table-land, above high breakage walls of Dragon Mountains, there are to be offered amazing views to Lowveld country, spreading somewhere downstairs. On local grassy savannas, there are situated one of most known and popular African reservations – Kruger National Park. It has an extention of 20 700 square kilometres and belongs to the greatest nature reservations of the world. Here, many protected animal sorts found their refuge. So, to scarce inhabitants belong rhinoceroses, but also hippopotamuses, elephants, several sorts of antelopes, and nearly all representants of big cat-beasts of pray – i.e. leopards, lions and gepards. From three sorts of monkeys, there are most numerous those of  baboons, whose gangs could be found in shadow of lonely trees and rocks.

So, from this quiet countryside of coastal savannas, the people as well as animals could penetrate into Dragon Mountains in such places only, where the ways through rocks were created by river itself. The archaeological investigations proved that first visitors of Blyde canyon were hunters of so called Stone time period, 100 000 years ago. Anyway, many thousand years later, the Sans (known as Hottentots) followed them. They left remarkable paintings on rocky walls and inside the caves. Further, more serious references to history of this place, were rests of bones of Swaziland soldiers, killed in the course of tribe wars by members of Pedi tribe in 1864. Through mountain valleys, there were often marched groups of colonists (Burs). Dramatic way of one of them is connected with names of two rivers. The men left here totally exhausted women with children at one of mountain-rivers and alone continued in his walking to coast and ocean, concretely to the place, known now as Maputo. However, the men did not returned, so the women concluded that their protectors lost their life.So, they named the river, where the camp was located, as Treur (Sorrow). Nevertheless, shortly afterthat, the women really met their men, but at another river, so they gave it the other name - Blyde (Joy). Since the end of 19th century, the golden fever reigned here, which brought whole colonies of golden-diggers, looking for their lucky star in this beautiful but desert country. To these lucky persons belonged  also  farmer Tom Bourke, the owner of an esate at confluence of Blyde and Treur rivers. On this places, there are established very strong whirled streams, which washed out roundish hollows in its rocky bottoms - called as Giants´ pots - (similar to those which are to be found on Vydra-river in Bohemia Forest). So, many pebbles, stuck in the first hollow and washed it out. Water stream rotated for thousands of years, so in river bottom, there were washed out the hollows of gigantic dimensions, some flat basins are more than 6 metres long. Tom had very present of mind. The resemblance of washed out pots with golddiggers´ utensils (concretely with gold-washing small dishes) brought him to decisive idea. As in bottom of small dishes, as well as in giants´ pots, remain  the heaviest stones there, whereas those light stones are, by means of water stream, taken away. He started to investigate the contents of hollow, and he found here golden nuggets. So, since that time, the stony formations are named as Bourke´s Luck Potholes.

Romantic windings and tributaries offer bathing possibilities. This fact is not – on African continent, as well as in South Africa- quite usual. It is a problem of a fact that Bilharsia (very small parasitic little worm, capable to penetrate the tissue and nest in veins and inside of internal body-organs) is an inhabitant of most slow and especially stagnant waters. Anyway, the attack of this parasite is possible to be healed but we do not believe that somebody would wish to meet this small monster in his own skin. At the end of canyon, river flow is embanked with a dam, which secures equal water distribution of surrounding area as well as Kruger Park.

Text: Jan Chaloupka

Photo: archive and kruger2canyons.com