Augrabies Falls, on the Orange River in South Africa, are among the world’s great waterfalls. They are about 75 miles (120 kilometers) west of Upington. The name Augrabies, meaning hollow place, a place of great noise, and a rocky waterfall, was an accurate description of the falls by the local Khoikhoi people. European explorers had called the falls King George’s Cataract, or Hercules Falls. But the Khoikhoi name stuck.
The Orange River drops 184 feet (56 meters) at the falls. Augrabies Falls National Park, established in 1966, is an area of about 136,854 acres (55,383 hectares) around the falls.
