| Gamtoos RIVER: Overview |
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eWISA Home | Gamtoos: MAIN INDEX | ALPHABETICAL LIST OF RIVERS | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Map of the Gamtoos River |
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The Gamtoos River has two major tributaries, namely the Groot River and the Kouga River. The catchment of the Groot River lies entirely in the Karoo. The Groot River passes through narrow gorges in the Groot Winterhoek, Baviaanskloof, and Elandsberg mountain ranges before its confluence with the Kouga River, which rises in the Langkloof. (Ref 1) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Groot and Kouga Rivers join to form the Gamtoos River, which drains the western slopes of the Elandsberg mountain range along its 90 km journey to the sea. (Ref 1). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The Gamtoos has the fourth largest catchment of all the Cape rivers, with an area of 34 438 km2 which extends right up into the Great Karoo | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The two large tributaries drain the eastern extremity of the Nuweveld Mountain range and the western slopes of the Onder-Sneeuberg mountain ranges of the great escarpment above Nelspoort and Murraysburg. (Ref 2) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The river is approximately 645 km long. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Gamtoos river system comprises three main rivers. These are from north to south, the Groot River, the Baviaanskloof River and the Kouga River, which join in the region of the present Kouga Dam to form the Gamtoos River, known colloquially as “the roaring lion” due to its ferocious and unpredictable nature. The Gamtoos drains into the sea northeast of Jeffrey’s Bay after passing through a long and winding floodplain be low the town of Hankey. (Ref 3) |
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| References | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Ref 1: Department of Water Affairs and
Forestry, South Africa. 2004. Fish to Tsitsikamma Water Management
Area: Tsitsikamma to Coega Internal Strategic Perspective.
Prepared by Ninham Shand in association with Umvoto Africa, on behalf of
the Directorate National Water Resources Planning. DWAF Report no. P WMA
15/000/00/0304.
Ref 2: Estuaries of the Cape Report No. 7 GAMTOOS (CMS48) CSIR RESEARCH REP0RT 406 Ref 3: The Gamtoos River System |
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