Umkomaas: Difference between revisions

==Etymology==

Many [[whales]] once used the estuary as a nursery, giving birth in the shallows. The [[Zulu people|Zulus]] named the river after this spectacle (uMkhomazi means ''the place of cow whales'').<ref>{{Cite book |url=http://archive.org/details/illustratedguide0000unse_d6x7 |title=Illustrated guide to Southern Africa |date=1980 |publisher=Cape Town : Published by Reader's Digest Association South Africa in association with T.V. Bulpin |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-620-04650-3}}</ref>{{rp|332}} The settlement was originally known as South Barrow, with its suburb known today as [[Ilfracombe, KwaZulu-Natal|Ilfracombe]] then called North Barrow.

==History==

===World War II plane crash===

 

The [[South African Navy]] [[mine countermeasures vessel]] SAS ''Umkomaas'' is named in honour of the river and village .<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.navy.mil.za/newnavy/surface/i050209_mcm_vessels/article.htm| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20050408095748/http://www.navy.mil.za/newnavy/surface/i050209_mcm_vessels/article.htm| archive-date = 2005-04-08| title = A new beginning for two River Class MCM vessels}} </ref>

==Geography==

===Topography===