Tugela Falls

Tugela Falls is the world's second highest waterfall. The total drop in five free-leaping falls is 3,110 feet(947 meters). They are located in the Drakensberg (Dragon's Mountains) in the Royal Natal National Park in KwaZulu-Natal Province, Republic of South Africa. They are easily viewed after a heavy rain from the main travel road into the park, glistening from the reflection of the late afternoon sun. The source of the Tugela River is at Mont-Aux-Sources several kilometers from the escarpment from which the falls drop. The water is pure and safe to drink above the falls.
There are 2 stunning trails to the Tugela Falls. The most spectacular trail is to the top of Mount-Aux-Sources, which starts at the Sentinel car park at Witsieshoek via Phuthadjhaba from where it is a relatively short climb to the top of the Amphiteare. (About 5 hours return). Via two chain ladders you can gain easy access to the summit. This is the only day hiking trail which will take you to the top of the Drakensberg escarpment and to the head of the Tugela Falls. Another trail to the foot of the Tugela Falls starts at Royal Natal National Park. The easy seven kilometre gradient up the Tugela Gorge winds though indigenous forests. The last part of the hike to the Tugela Falls is a boulder hop. A little chain ladder takes you over the final stretch from where you have a stunning view of the falls rushing down the Amphitheater in a series of five spectacular cascades.

The Tugela river ends its course of 312 miles (502 km) at the Indian Ocean, about 52 miles (84 km) north of Durban, its mouth almost completely blocked in times of normal flow by a sandbar. The river is navigable only in the lagoon formed behind the sandbar. Its narrow valley and scanty alluvial deposits restrict irrigation. The Spioenkop Dam (1973), west of Colenso and southwest of Ladysmith, regulates flow. Upstream, water from the Tugela headwaters is diverted across the Drakensberg into the more highly developed Vaal basin.

Historically, the Tugela (in Zulu, Thukela, meaning “something that startles”) marked the southern boundary of Zululand. The total drainage basin of more than 11,000 square miles (more than 28,000 square km) includes most of western KwaZulu/Natal. The major tributary is the Buffalo.

credited to wikipedia and flickr:Thomas Abbott,nasrulMN,Hein Pieterse