Blyde River
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The Blyde River rises in the Drakensberg to the south of Pilgrim's Rest and in its northward course joins up with the Treur River at Bourke's Luck Potholes. It then flows through the grandiose canyon and finally joins the Olifants River.
The names of the Blyde and Treur Rivers mean "joy" and "sorrow", reflecting an event in Boer history. In the winter of 1844 the voortrekkers set out from the Cape Colony seeking a route to the sea which was not under British control. An expedition led by Andries Hendrik Potgieter headed for Delagoa, leaving their women and children, with the unwieldy trek wagons, on the malaria-free hills of the Transvaal Drakensberg, near Graskop, to await the return of the men. When the agreed time for their return was long past with no sign of them the women thought that something must have happened to the expedition and named the river by which they were camping the Treurrivier, the "River of Sorrow". Soon after setting out for Ohrigstad they were overtaken by Potgieter and his men, who had found the route to the sea they had been looking for but had taken longer than expected to find it. The river where they had met was then named the Blyderivier, the "River of Joy".
The names of the Blyde and Treur Rivers mean "joy" and "sorrow", reflecting an event in Boer history. In the winter of 1844 the voortrekkers set out from the Cape Colony seeking a route to the sea which was not under British control. An expedition led by Andries Hendrik Potgieter headed for Delagoa, leaving their women and children, with the unwieldy trek wagons, on the malaria-free hills of the Transvaal Drakensberg, near Graskop, to await the return of the men. When the agreed time for their return was long past with no sign of them the women thought that something must have happened to the expedition and named the river by which they were camping the Treurrivier, the "River of Sorrow". Soon after setting out for Ohrigstad they were overtaken by Potgieter and his men, who had found the route to the sea they had been looking for but had taken longer than expected to find it. The river where they had met was then named the Blyderivier, the "River of Joy".
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