ESTUARIES IN SOUTH AFRICA

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The Bot River Estuary by Rod Bally and George Branch

Main Page	Catchment Characteristics	Land and Estuary Uses	Ecology	Water Quality
Threats	Hydrodynamics and mouth dynamics	Physical Features	Climate	References
BOT RIVER ESTUARY: General information and location

	General
	Depending on the water level, the Bot Estuary covers a total area of between 9 km² and 23 km² (Branch et al., 1985) and was recently mapped at 13.6 km². (Ref 1)
	The lagoon is of the closed estuary type with sporadical, natural breachings of the coastal dune belt and periodical, artificial openings every two or three years. (Ref 2)
	The Bot River Estuary, or Botriviervlei as it is more commonly known, is one of the largest estuarine systems in the Western Cape, covering an area of approximately 14 km² when fully inundated. It is joined to the nearby Kleinmond estuary by a narrow channel called "Die Keel" and together these two areas make up the Botrivervlei/Kleinmond IBA (SA118). Both systems are counted for CWAC. Major habitats include river, open water, shoreline, mud- & sandflats (during low water levels), marsh (around Die Keel) and reedbeds (mainly Phragmites and Scirpus) (Ref 3)

	Location (co-ordinates)
	It is located between 34°18’30” to 34°22’30”S and 19°04’ to 19°09’E on the south-western coast of South Africa some 110 km south-east of Cape Town (Koop, 1982; Rogers, 1985). (Ref 1)
			Map of the Bot River Estuary
	Dimensions
	The Bot River Estuary is a relatively shallow (-1.5 m MSL) triangular temporarily open/closed estuarine lake, roughly 7 km long and about 2 km at its widest (Willis, 1985; Koop, 1982). (Ref 1)