BOT RIVER

BOT RIVER: Overview

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The total length of the river from the dunes at the seaward side of the Botriviervlei to the source of the Bot River is approximately 42 km while the source of the Swart River, a major tributary of the Bot, is about 48 km from the sea. (Ref 1)

The catchment area:

813 km²(Heydorn and Tinley, 1980)
927 km²(Noble and Hemens, 1978)
1000km²(Caledon Divisional Council, Memo. no. VB 26/1, 1975) (Ref 1)

The Bot River and its tributaries drain the Houhoek, Groenland, Swart, Shaw's and Babilonstoring Mountains. (Ref 1)

Apart from a number of small tributaries two larger rivers drain into the Bot River. About 20km from the sea the Bot is joined by the Jakkals River and about 5 km downstream of this junction the major tributary, the Swart River, flows into the Bot. This river also collects the waters of the smaller Treintjies River. Several small rivers drain directly into the Botriviervlei. The Hopies River flows into the head of the estuary on the southeastern side while the Afdaks River drains into the same side about halfway between the head of the vlei and the sea. (Ref 1)

The Bot River meanders its way through a fertile valley surrounded by mountains covered in fynbos, historical wine farms and fields of wheat. A place of crossing in the Bot River originally served as a spot for bartering butter with the Khoi-khoi tribes and the river was attributed with the name ‘butter’ from both sides - the Afrikaans word for butter is ‘botter’ and the Khoi-khoi called it ‘Couga’, which means ‘lots of butter’. (Ref 2)

References

Ref 1: Estuaries of the Cape - Synopsis of available information on individual systems, Report No. 18 - Bot/Kleinmond System (CSW 13) -CSIR RESEARCH REPORT 417

Ref 2: South Africa Explored: http://www.sa-venues.com/attractionswc/botrivier.htm

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