Tugela River
The Tugela River (Zulu: Thukela; Afrikaans: Tugelarivier) is the largest river in KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa. With a total length of 560 km (350 mi), and a drop of 1 370 metres in the lower 480 km,[1] it is one of the most important rivers of the country.[2]
For other uses, see Tugela (disambiguation).
Tugela
Thukela
Thukela
560 km (350 mi)
29,100 km2 (11,200 sq mi)
The river originates in Mont-aux-Sources of the Drakensberg Mountains at an elevation of 3 282 metres[3] and plunges in five distinct free-leaping falls 947 metres down the Tugela Falls. The Mont-aux-Sources is also the origin of tributaries of two other major South African rivers, the Orange and the Caledon River. From the Drakensberg range, the Tugela follows a 560 km (350 mi) route through the KwaZulu-Natal midlands before flowing into the Indian Ocean.[4] The total catchment area is approximately 29,100 km2 (11,200 sq mi).[4] Land uses in the catchment are mainly rural subsistence farming and commercial forestry.
Ecology[edit]
The scaly yellowfish (Labeobarbus natalensis) is found in the Tugela River System. It is a common endemic fish in KwaZulu-Natal Province and it is found in different habitats between the Drakensberg foothills and the coastal lowlands, including rivers such as the Umkomazi.[6]
The spelling Tugela was used for most of the twentieth century; it is an Anglicised version of the Zulu name Thukela. Nineteenth-century writers adopted a variety of spellings including:
Some of the variations can be accounted for by the early European writers being unaware that Zulu grammar uses prefixes, often a "i-" or a "u-", to denote the noun class of a noun.