The Blyde River Canyon is a 26km long[1]Canyon located in Mpumalanga, South Africa. It is one of the larger canyons on Earth but much smaller than those of Asia, the Grand Canyon and the Fish River Canyon.[1][2] Unlike the Grand and Fish River Canyon, the Blyde River Canyon is a "green canyon" which is dominated by subtropical vegetation. The canyon forms part of the Blyde River Canyon Nature Reserve.
The canyon is named for the river that runs through it, the Blyde River, now called the Motlatse River. Blyde means "glad" or "happy"[3] in old Dutch, a name derived from a voortrekkers' expedition. The 'happy river' was thus named in 1844, when Hendrik Potgieter and others returned safely from Delagoa Bay to the rest of their party of trekkers who had considered them dead. While still under this misapprehension they had named the nearby river where they had been encamped, Treurrivier, or 'mourning river'.
In 2005, the Blyde River was renamed to the Motlatse River, and the Mpumalanga Provincial Government announced that the canyon would be renamed as well.[clarification needed][4]
At 200 metres (660ft), the Kadishi Tufa waterfall is the second tallest tufa waterfall on earth. A tufa waterfall is formed when water running over dolomite rock absorbs calcium, and deposits rock formations more rapidly than they erode the surrounding rock. In the case of the Kadishi Tufa fall, the formation that has been produced strikingly resembles a face which is crying profusely, and is thus sometimes known as 'the weeping face of nature'.
Tourism
The canyon and the surrounding Drakensbergescarpment is a very popular tourist region with a well-developed tourism industry supported by good public infrastructure.[citation needed]
This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Blyde_River_Canyon, and is written by contributors.
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