Augrabies Falls National Park does not disappoint. The water level at the falls is about 500 cubic meters per second when we arrive on Thursday evening. The granite canyon is damp with spray and the falls are respectably noisy. The layout of walkways and overlooks is impressive and we can stand above the biggest drop off.

The flow doubles to 1000cms on Sunday. Up and down the river it is known that the release is coming; there’s time to maneuver boats out of the way of the rising water and protect property. Sunday is a perfect day for the water to reach the falls; many people can come see it and many do. They are of all colors and life styles, a parade of Northwestern Cape people out for a day at the Falls. Black, colored and white, tourists and farmers and families; the day use area is full.

There aren’t many people camping. The campground is nice enough, with decent shade, but a bit ragged and dirty in places. There are patches of lawn that no one is suppose to camp on – the green-ish devil grass is to give an impression of coolness in this blistering hot landscape, I suppose. There are the Vervet Monkeys we’d heard about and baboons. Of course the signs that scream DO NOT FEED MONKEYS are generally ignored – the USA doesn’t have a monopoly on silly tourists.

The sound of enormous amounts of water falling far onto rocks has probably scared humans since the beginning of realization. It is intoxicating, frightening and beautiful all at the same time. Augrabies means “great noise” and it lives up to the name. Standing there right next to the big drop I can’t help but think of the one-armed Major John Wesley Powell and the men under his command who first put wooden boats on the Green River in Utah, and headed down the previously unexplored Colorado River canyon. No doubt the sound of the cataracts must have put the fear of god into them. Not being able to see those rapids – which were tremendous, frequent and unavoidable – how incredibly brave those men were.

No one is finding a line down the falls here at Augrabies. There’s first descents, and there is suicide. The charming Nadine, working at a camping supply store we frequented in Upington, told us that intrepid people explore the bottom of the big drop looking for diamonds (under the right conditions) and some diamonds have been found. Not exactly going to Jared’s for that special stone!