Blood River, also known as Ncome, (Afrikaans: Bloedrivier) is situated in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. This river has its sources in the hills SE of Utrecht; leaving the highlands it is joined by two important tributaries that originate in the Schurveberg, after which it flows meandering through a sandy plain. The Blood River is a tributary of the Buffalo River, itself a tributary of the Tugela River which it joins from the north-east.
This river is so named after the Battle of Blood River in which Zulu king Dingaan was defeated by Andries Pretorius' troops in 1838.
The Blood River Vlei, located about 20 km to the south-west of Vryheid, is one of the biggest inland wetlands in South Africa, and the wintering place of migratory birds such as ducks and geese.
Famous quotes containing the words blood and/or river:
“Slowly the poison the whole blood stream fills.
It is not the effort nor the failure tires.
The waste remains, the waste remains and kills.”
—William Empson (1906–1984)
“I cannot tell how many times we had to walk on account of falls or rapids. We were expecting all the while that the river would take a final leap and get to smooth water, but there was no improvement this forenoon.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)