Blyde River Canyon, Bourke's Luck - panoramio

The Treur River (from

Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gra ...

: mourning river) is a small river in the

Drakensberg The Drakensberg (Afrikaans: Drakensberge, Zulu: uKhahlambha, Sotho: Maluti) is the eastern portion of the Great Escarpment, which encloses the central Southern African plateau. The Great Escarpment reaches its greatest elevation – within th ...

escarpment region of eastern

Mpumalanga Mpumalanga () is a province of South Africa. The name means "East", or literally "The Place Where the Sun Rises" in the Swazi, Xhosa, Ndebele and Zulu languages. Mpumalanga lies in eastern South Africa, bordering Eswatini and Mozambique. It ...

province,

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. The R532 motor route intersects it twice. Its ultimate origin is inside the

Blyde River Canyon Nature Reserve Blyde River Canyon Nature Reserve (or Motlatse Canyon Provincial Nature Reserve) is situated in the Drakensberg escarpment region of eastern Mpumalanga, South Africa. The reserve protects the Blyde River Canyon, including sections of the Ohri ...

, though most of its course is to the west of this protected area. It is a tributary of the

Blyde River The Motlatse River ("Permanent River"), Blyde River ( af, Blyderivier "Glad River"), or Umdhlazi River is a river in the Mpumalanga and Limpopo provinces of South Africa. It has a northwards course in steep-sided valleys and ravines of the Mpumala ...

, and has no major tributaries of its own. There are two sharp drops in its course, at Poe Falls and

Bourke's Luck Potholes Blyde River Canyon Nature Reserve (or Motlatse Canyon Provincial Nature Reserve) is situated in the Drakensberg escarpment region of eastern Mpumalanga, South Africa. The reserve protects the Blyde River Canyon, including sections of the Ohri ...

respectively.

Etymology

Treur means "mourning" in Dutch, and was thus named during a

voortrekker The Great Trek ( af, Die Groot Trek; nl, De Grote Trek) was a Northward migration of Dutch-speaking settlers who travelled by wagon trains from the Cape Colony into the interior of modern South Africa from 1836 onwards, seeking to live beyon ...

expedition. In 1844, while still under the misapprehension that

Hendrik Potgieter Andries Hendrik Potgieter, known as Hendrik Potgieter (19 December 1792 – 16 December 1852) was a Voortrekker leader and the last known Champion of the Potgieter family. He served as the first head of state of Potchefstroom from 1840 and 184 ...

and his party had perished on their journey to

Delagoa Bay Maputo Bay ( pt, Baía de Maputo), formerly also known as Delagoa Bay from ''Baía da Lagoa'' in Portuguese, is an inlet of the Indian Ocean on the coast of Mozambique, between 25° 40' and 26° 20' S, with a length from north to south of over 90&n ...

, their distraught relatives named the river near their encampment, Treurrivier, or 'mourning river'.

Treur River Barb

The Treur river is home to the Treur River Barb, a species of

cyprinid Cyprinidae is a family of freshwater fish commonly called the carp or minnow family. It includes the carps, the true minnows, and relatives like the barbs and barbels. Cyprinidae is the largest and most diverse fish family and the largest verte ...

fish that is endemic to Northern Mpumalanga. It was thought to be pushed to extinction by the introduction of exotic fish but it was rediscovered in the Bylde River in 1985. The Treur River Barb was subsequently reintroduced to the Treur River.

References

{{coord, 24, 48, 17, S, 30, 52, 54, E, type:river_region:ZA, display=title Rivers of Mpumalanga

Etymology

Treur River Barb

See also

References