Place names in Kruger - origin and meaning

[gmlsmit]

A few more;

Sabie: = original siSwati word "sabisa", be careful, referring to the slippery rocks. The river originates higher up on the Mpumalanga escarpment and flows over the very slippery kaolinitic clay.

Other old spellings - Sabi, Sabe, Save,Lusaba, Sabana- from the local black languages being Sotho, Tsonga,siSwati and Zulu.

Tshokwane: = named after a Sotho who lived here in the 1800s or even earlier.

Other old spellings - Chokwan, Chokwana, Tjokwane and TSOKWANA.

Pretoriuskop:= named after named after Willem Pretorius a member of the Carel Trichardt expedition, who died in the area and was buried there his grave can be seen on the southern sideof the H1-1.

Fayi := Tsonga meaning "a tall thin person".

Orpen:= named after Mr. and Mrs. J.H.Orpen, a couple who really, really cared for the KRUGER NATIONAL PARK. They donated large pieces of farmland to the SANPARKS to develop and keep in custody for Mother Nature.

Pafuri: = named after the Venda chief Mphaphuli now Pafuri.

Selati: = a Sotho word= "follower" also the name given to the Railaway Line following the border of the . . . . . .Selati River, a tributary of the Olifants River.

[gmlsmit]

Flying Cheetah you are not impolite, you are most welcome, again thanks for the kind words.

Letaba: = Tsonga language - "river of sand"

Luvuvhu := Venda/Tsonga language - muvuvhu - "the tree" referring to the River Bushwillow -( Combretum erythophyllum)

Shithlave = the name of Col. Stevenson Hamilton's first ranger - Sergeant Jafuta Shitlave, Tsonga language - meaning "pain in the side" - as when tired.

Shipandani:= Tsonga language - "from panda", referring to a person who lived there very years ago.

Shingwedzi:= Tsonga language - ngwetse - "the sound of metal objects rubbing against each other", referring to the hard rocks in the area with a very high iron oxide content. Other spellings - Shinwitsi, Shingwidzi, Umtshengwitsi, Xingwedzi, Singwetsi, Singwatsana and Tshingwedzi.

[gmlsmit]

I have few more.

One which I do not have is Balule and that bothers me.

I know the Olifants River was previously named the Balule, I also know there is a place in Zimbabwe named Balule.

Anyone who can shed some light, please do so.

[arks]

Balule "A shortening of Rimbalule, the Tsonga name for the Olifants River. The meaning of the name has been lost in time."

Source: A Dictionary of Kruger National Park Place Names, by JJ Kloppers and Hans Bornman

This excellent and interesting book should be available in most KNP shops.

[arks]

Another question: Why is Lake Panic called Lake Panic

Lake Panic "So named because of the panic caused when the dam's wall, shortly after completion, threatened to breach after a cloudburst (c1975)."

Source: A Dictionary of Kruger National Park Place Names, by JJ Kloppers and Hans Bornman

This excellent and interesting book should be available in most KNP shops.

[skywalker2251]

Punda Maria "Punda Maria is a bastardisation of the Swahili word for zebra, which is punda miliya. The name of the camp was coined in 1919 by the first ranger in charge of the area, JJ "Ou Kat" Coetser, who named it after his wife, Maria. She apparently hated the rigours of living in such an isolated part of the country and had a predilection for striped dresses."

Source: Prime Origins Guide to Exploring Kruger

[ogilvie]

Hi there. Can any one tell me were the name "Dugga boy" comes from for a old Buffalo bull.

[Meandering Mouse]

Ogilvie, as far as I know that it is derived from a black language, but I am not sure which one. It refers to the mud that covers them after they have gone wallowing for a while. They do have a habit of spending long hours covering themselved with this mud.

I remember when the Orpen cam had a natural waterhole, we spent a long long time wondering if an old dugga boy had died in the pool.

[flying cheetah]

Where did Transport (waterwhole) get his name from
On my last visit there I saw some rangers transporting a white *** away to another park or an auction, but I think this won´t be the reason for the name

[gmlsmit]

Tranport Dam= A dam donated to KNP by the National Department of Transport during 1971, after the terrible preceeding dry years.

[gmlsmit]

I recently had a request for the meaning of Shilowa.

There is a tale going round that it is named after a man who who was not of sound mind who roamed the area, this is not quite true.

Shilowa is named after a Shangane chief who lived east of the Great Lebombo Mountains during the 19th century.

I am still exploring the name of BALULE.

[Wild Dreamer]

Referring to RichPrins on page 1 on the name : Mhlanganzwane - it is a previous spelling of Nhlanganzwani.

[gmlsmit]

Previously any spelling was accepted, in some old reports and journals one would find two or three different spellings for the same name in possibly as many or a few more pages.

Mr. Johan Kloppers who started as a Ranger in KRUGER and retired as a Deputy Director - Nature Conservation did much work in drawing maps of the Park from aerial photos and also the standardising of the different names.

When he started in the Park in 1955 the only reasonably reliable map of the Park was one issued by the Department of Water Affairs.

The many different spellings do not necessarily mean that they were incorrectly spelt, the were just phonetically written as heard by the listener.

[Richprins]

I am still trying to find the meaning of Balule.

No one can tell me, none of the older generation and none of the current generation, no Shangane, Tsonga, Zulu, Pedi or Sotho dictionery or any note - nothing.

Should anyone have any information regarding this, please PM me.

Asked a Siswati teacher, and he suggested Sotho...although Pedi comes closest to that in the area referred to...

"Bha/Ba" means "place of", in most Northern local languages, as in "BhaPhalaborwa"

So now to find out who/what "Lule" is...probably just a misinterpretation of "lala" - "Sleep"?!

[gmlsmit]

Thanks I have tried that one but it did not work.
The original name was Rimbalule, then changed to Olifants and then to Balule, please keep on trying.