Tugela River

Geobox |River
name = Tugela
other_name = Thukela
country = South Africa
region = KwaZulu-Natal
region_type = Province
city = Bergville
city1 = Colenso
city_type = Towns
landmark = Tugela Falls
landmark1 = Rorke's Drift
landmark2 = Fort Tenedos
length = 520
watershed = 29100
source_location = Drakensberg
mouth_name = Indian Ocean

---

image_caption = The Tugela River with the Amphitheatre in the background


map_caption = The course of the Tugela river, from the west to the east border of KwaZulu-Natal.

:"Note: Tugela redirects here. For the Australian racehorse named after the river, see Tugela (horse)".The Tugela River (also known as Thukela) is the largest river in KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa. The river originates in the Drakensberg Mountains, Mont-aux-Sources, (itself the source of tributaries of two other major South African rivers, the Orange River and the Vaal River) and plunges 947 metres down the Tugela Falls. From the Drakensberg range the river meanders for 520 km through the KwaZulu-Natal midlands before flowing into the Indian Ocean. The total catchment area is approximately 29,100 km². Land uses in the catchment are mainly rural subsistence farming and commercial forestry.

There are a number of large inter-basin transfer schemes responsible for transferring water from the Tugela basin across the escarpment into the Vaal River system. The main scheme is the Drakensberg Pumped Storage Scheme operated by Eskom. There is also the original pumping station at Jagersrus.

The Tugela passes Bergville and Colenso, the latter the site of an important battle in the Second Boer War and for many years the site of the first major power station in Natal. The power station was built by the South African Railways to electrify the railway line north from Pietermaritzburg. It was coal-fired and the cooling water came from the Tugela.

Below the Buffalo confluence the Tugela flows southeast in a deep channel between cliffs and valleys until it reaches the narrow coast belt. Its mouth is nearly closed by a sand bar, formed by the action of the ocean. The Tugela is thus not navigable.

About 10km above the mouth are two historic forts, Fort Pearson and Fort Tenedos, built by the British in 1879, during the war with the Zulus, to guard the passage of the river. Generally fordable in the winter months, the Tugela is, after the heavy rains of summer, a deep and rapid river.

Tributaries

The Tugela has a number of tributaries coming off the Drakensberg, including the Klip River (rising near Van Reenens Pass), Mooi River and Buffalo (rising near Majuba Hill) rivers. The Buffalo River joins the Tugela some convert|19|km|mi|0 east of Tugela Ferry at coord|28|43|04|S|30|38|41|E|.

Another northern tributary is the Sundays river, which rises in the Biggarsberg. It also receives the Ingagani (from the south-west) and the Blood River (from the north-east, named from the defeat of the Zulu king Dingane, on 16 December, 1838, by the Boers under Andries Pretorius, when the river is said to have run red with the blood of the Zulus). Below the Blood River is Rorke's Drift, a crossing point and another battle site, this time from the Anglo-Zulu War.

ee also

;Dams on the Tugela
* Spioenkop Dam

Notes

External links