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the Degree Confluence Project
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South Africa : KwaZulu-Natal

near Matshamhlophe, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Approx. altitude: 504 m (1653 ft)
([?] maps: Google MapQuest OpenStreetMap ConfluenceNavigator)
Antipode: 28°N 148°W

Accuracy: 67 m (219 ft)
Quality: good

Click on any of the images for the full-sized picture.

#2: View to the South #3: View to the West #4: View to the North #5: View to the East #6: GPS Reading #7: Ground Zero #8: #9: The Nearby Village

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  28°S 32°E (visit #3)  

#1: The Confluence Point from 67 m Distance

(visited by Rainer Mautz, Elionora and Fabian Simon)

26-Mar-2021 -- On 24th December 2020 we began our stay in South Africa. We are actually not exactly staying here for vacation, but as working nomads equipped with laptops. Thanks to the fear of Covid-19, our offices in Switzerland are closed and we have the freedom to work from anywhere. After spending almost two months in Camps Bay (10 km south of Cape Town), we decided to get familiar with other areas in South Africa.

This week we spent working in St. Lucia, which is located at the Indian Ocean about 100 km south-east of this confluence point. On Friday we took off for a day trip into the nearby Hluhluwe iMfolozi Park. After an early start at 7 AM, we reached the village Matshamhlope (1 KM from the confluence) at 9 AM.

The confluence is in a hilly, but populated area in Zulu land. We decided to leave our car at a distance of 450 m and try to find our way through the patchy farmland of Matshamhlope Village. The people were very friendly to us, greeting us warmly.

The confluence lies in a valley. We could use paths up to a distance of 100 m. At the valley bottom, we left the path and walked in the high grass across a pasture where oxen were grazing. At a distance of 76 m from the confluence point, we suddenly heard a loud voice screaming from the top of the mountain. From the seriousness of his voice, we could tell that emotions were involved and that something was going very wrong. We figured that the farmer feared that we were about stealing his oxen. We quickly took the documentary pictures right at the spot and slowly moved backwords to the official path. We were not interested in trouble or being faced with the difficulty to explain the concept of confluencing to someone who might not know about GPS or latitudes and longitudes.

Luckily, nobody followed us, and we reached our car without further events. We drove another 40 minutes until we reached Memorial Gate of the Hluhluwe Game Park. The rest of the day we spent as normal tourists, taking pictures of animals in the park.

CP Visit Details:

  • Distance to a road: 450 m
  • Distance to a path: 100 m
  • Distance of car parking: 450 m
  • Time to reach the confluence from the car: 12 min
  • Time at the confluence: 9:36 AM
  • Measured height: 489 m
  • Minimal distance according to GPS: 67 m
  • Position accuracy: 3 m
  • Topography: hilly
  • Weather: mostly sunny, 25° C (felt temperature)
  • Given Name: The Sudden Shouting Confluence


 All pictures
#1: The Confluence Point from 67 m Distance
#2: View to the South
#3: View to the West
#4: View to the North
#5: View to the East
#6: GPS Reading
#7: Ground Zero
#8:
#9: The Nearby Village
ALL: All pictures on one page