Waterval Onder is a small village situated at the base of the escarpment on the banks of the Elands River in

Emakhazeni Local Municipality Emakhazeni Local Municipality (formerly Highlands Local Municipality) is located in the Nkangala District Municipality of Mpumalanga province, South Africa. The seat of Emakhazeni Local Municipality is Emakhazeni. Main places The 2011 census di ...

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 ...

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 ...

History

The name means ''below the waterfall'', due to its position below a 75 m waterfall (Elands River Falls). The village did not develop into a town like its sister town of

Waterval Boven Waterval Boven (officially known as Emgwenya) is a small town situated on the edge of the Escarpment on the banks of the Elands River above the 75m Elands Falls on the railway line from Pretoria to Maputo in Mpumalanga, South Africa. Hence the ...

, which is above the waterfall. Both settlements were established in 1895 because of the building of the

Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa. Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends ...

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 ...

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

line built by the Netherlands-South African Railway Company (NZASM). President

Paul Kruger Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger (; 10 October 1825 – 14 July 1904) was a South African politician. He was one of the dominant political and military figures in 19th-century South Africa, and President of the South African Republic (or ...

lived in Waterval Onder before he left South Africa via Mozambique during the

Anglo-Boer war The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sout ...

. His ''Krugerhof'' house was proclaimed a national monument.

References

Populated places in the Emakhazeni Local Municipality Populated places established in 1895 1895 establishments in the South African Republic {{Mpumalanga-geo-stub