This week will be dedicated to the Falls and its gorge. The 95 metres high, single drop Howick Falls on the uMngeni River are probably the most well known attraction of this small (but fast growing) Midlands town. Known for its restorative air, Howick has for many years been a popular choice for convalescents and today the area boasts a couple of luxury spas, many B+Bs, country inns and lodgings, and ongoing upmarket retirement and leisure developments. And, if any visitor has but one enduring memory of the place it is of the spectacular waterfall.
The town was named in 1850 after the family seat of the British Colonial Secretary at the time of its establishment, the third Earl Grey (Henry George), (son of the eponymous tea Earl) – Lord of Howick (in Northumberland).
This first view of the falls is one well known to the drive-by tourist, the falls as seen from the public viewing deck. Although it is an attractive vista, as a declared national heritage site I often wonder what the foreign visitor makes of the backdrop of the partially tree-screened, disused Dunlop factory and the ever present local washer women with their multicoloured laundry draped across the rocky crest of the falls cliffs. Laundry activities in the river however are nothing new – historic photographs of early settlers show that they too found the location to be a natural Laundromat.
On a clear sunny day such as this there is little required of a photographer to get a good image in 1/380s, other than the ability to set the camera to ASA 100, use an f stop of 5, a focal length of 4.6mm, aim and press the shutter. Nature (and those washer folk) provides the rest.
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