Mngeni River

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mngeni
Umngeni, Umgeni, uMngeni, Mgeni
The Mngeni a little below the Howick Falls

The Mngeni a little below the Howick Falls

Data
location South AfricaSouth Africa South Africa
KwaZulu-Natal
River system Mngeni River
Source height 1825  m
muzzle Indian Ocean near Durban Coordinates: 29 ° 48 ′ 36 "  S , 31 ° 2 ′ 8"  E 29 ° 48 ′ 36 "  S , 31 ° 2 ′ 8"  E
Mouth height m
Height difference 1825 m
Bottom slope 7.9 ‰
length 232 km
Catchment area 4432 km²
Left tributaries Msunduzi River
Reservoirs flowed through Midmar Dam , Albert Falls Dam , Nagle Dam , Inanda Dam

The Mngeni (also Umngeni, Umgeni, uMngeni or Mgeni ) is a river in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal .

course

It has its source in the Midlands and flows into the Indian Ocean five kilometers north of Durban city ​​center . The Zulu name means "place of the acacia ", but there are also other derivations for the name.

The Mngeni is about 232 kilometers long and has a catchment area of ​​4432 square kilometers. The annual runoff is 707 million cubic meters. There are four reservoirs along the river: Midmar Dam , Albert Falls Dam , Nagle Dam, and Inanda Dam . The Howick Falls are waterfalls of the Mngeni.

History

It is believed that Vasco da Gama replenished its water supplies on Christmas Day in 1498 at the mouth of the Mngeni and named the area Natal , after the Portuguese term for "Christmas". The river was then called the River of Natal . 330 years later the river was crossed by Nathaniel Isaacs when he wanted to visit the Zulu king Shaka .

Msunduzi - tributary

An important tributary is the Msunduzi River , which flows into the Mngeni between the Nagle Dam and the Inanda Dam . Before that, the Msunduzi (or Dusi for short ) flows through Pietermaritzburg , the capital of KwaZulu-Natal.

Every year in January, the three-day Dusi Canoe Marathon takes place on the Msunduzi , a (river) downhill race between the capital and Durban that attracts thousands of canoeists every year.

See also

literature

  • Janice Peters: Proceedings of the first International Conference on Ephomeroptera . Brill Archive, 1973, ISBN 9789004035904 .

Web links

Commons : Umgeni River  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. a b E. J. du Plessis: Suid-Afrikaanse berg- en riviername . Tafelberg-uitgewers, Cape Town, 1973, ISBN 0-624-00273X , pp. 277, 278.
  2. ^ PE Raper: South African Place Names . Jonathan Ball, Jhb & Cape Town, 2004, ISBN 1-86842-190-2 , p. 245.