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Buffels River (Western Cape)
The Groot River is a river in the southern area of the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is a right hand tributary of the Gourits River. Course The Groot River rises in the Komsberg Escarpment of the Great Karoo, about 40 km south of Sutherland in the Northern Cape Province, and is known as the Komsberg in its upper course. Flowing southeastwards it becomes the Buffels River. It then bends southwards through Laingsburg and flows first southeast, then south into the Floriskraal Dam, and then southwest, before it flows southwards again and cuts across the Klein Swartberg Mountains through the Buffelspoort, a deep gorge, into the Little Karoo. The river eventually becomes the Groot River at the point where the Buffels and the Klein-Swartberg River meet, about 50 km before its confluence with the Touws River, and then it flows eastwards, past Van Wyksdorp, towards its confluence with the Gourits River. Its main tributary is the Touws River that rises in th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Afrikaans Language
Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch dialects, Dutch vernacular of Holland, Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and Slavery in South Africa, their enslaved people. Afrikaans gradually began to develop distinguishing characteristics during the course of the 18th century. Now spoken in South Africa, Namibia and (to a lesser extent) Botswana, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, estimates circa 2010 of the total number of Afrikaans speakers range between 15 and 23 million. Most linguists consider Afrikaans to be a partly creole language. An estimated 90 to 95% of the vocabulary is of Dutch origin with adopted words from other languages including German language, German and the Khoisan languages of Southern Africa. Differences between Afrikaans and Dutch, Differences with Dutch include a more analytic language, analytic-type Morphology (linguistics), morphology ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Buffelspoort
Buffelspoort is the westernmost of five defiles that cut through the Swartberg Mountain range, situated in the Western Cape province of South Africa. The others are the Seweweekspoort, Die Poort, where the Gamka River transects Die Hel, Meiringspoort, and Snykloof at its eastern extremity. The deep gorge and river valley is located some 10 km from the western limit of the Swartberg range, in the section known as the Klein Swartberge. After exiting Floriskraal Dam, the Buffels River enters the Swartberg's foothills or Wit Nekke, before it enters Buffelspoort from the north. The 9 km long gorge connects the northern foothills of the Swartberg with the Little Karoo in the south, where the Buffels River exits the defile. Downstream from this point the Buffels is known as the Groot River. The vegetation of this remote and untouched gorge is predominantly the arid, succulent-rich ''Gamka Thicket'' vegetation, and includes many endemics, such as '' Astroloba cremnophila''.E. van Ja ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grootrivier Pass
Grootrivier Pass, is situated in the Western Cape province of South Africa on the R102 regional road. The Grootrivier (Afrikaans for "Great River") is one of various mountain streams that over millions of years have cut through the coastal plateau towards the sea. The R102 winds its way from the N2 on the coastal plateau, which is an ancient sea-bed now at 220m above sea-level, through dense coastal forest, down to the resort of Nature's Valley on the Grootrivier and then climbs the opposite slope, back to the plateau. The pass was finished in 1880 by Thomas Bain and major reconstruction was carried out on both sections in 2010. The route from plateau down to sea-level and then back to the plateau, was dictated by the wide and deep gorge carved by the Grootrivier and stretching inland to the Tsitsikamma Mountains. Modern bridge-building techniques spanned the three gorges of the Grootrivier, the Bloukrans River and the Storms River, allowing the opening of the freeway in June 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Floriskraal Dam
Floriskraal Dam is a combined gravity and buttress type dam located on the Buffels River, near Laingsburg, Western Cape, South Africa. It was established in 1957. from the The primary purpose of the dam is to serve for irrigation. Its hazard potential has been ranked high (3). See also * * |
Touws River (town)
Touws River ( af, Touwsrivier) is a small railway town of 6,800 people in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is located on the river of the same name, about north-east of Cape Town. The Touwsrivier CPV Solar Project is located just outside of the town and supplies 50 MW to the national electrical grid. History The town of Touws River owes its existence to the Cape Government Railways, and to the route that their founder, Cape Prime Minister John Molteno, chose for a railway line over the Hex River Mountains. A railway was needed from the port at Cape Town, to service the newly discovered diamond fields in Kimberley. However, several seemingly impregnable ranges of mountains separated Cape Town from the hinterland of the Cape. The Royal Commonwealth Society (1898) records how the route was chosen: ''When Mr. Molteno formulated his railway scheme he sent for his consulting engineer, who asked him what was the route he desired. Mr. Molteno asked for a map of South Afri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hex River Mountains
The Hex River Mountains ( af, Hexrivierberge) make up the second highest mountain range in the Western Cape province of South Africa and are located 120 kilometres (75 miles) north-east of Cape Town. They form part of a large anticline in the Cape Fold Belt mountain system and form a north-east, south-west trending mountain system forming the core of the Cape Syntaxis between the towns of Worcester and De Doorns. They are mostly composed of Table Mountain sandstone and most peaks reach 2,000 metres (6,562 feet) in height or more. The highest mountain is Matroosberg at 2,249 metres (7,379 feet), making it the second tallest peak in the province after Seweweekspoort Peak in the Swartberg Mountain Range. The vegetation is primarily montane fynbos and the mountains fall within the Cape's Mediterranean climate. The mountains provide some rudimentary snow-skiing opportunities in winter, with the Western Cape's heaviest snowfalls occurring in and around these ranges. The surrounding va ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Van Wyksdorp
Vanwyksdorp is a town in Kannaland Local Municipality in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Village on the Groot River, some 55 km south-east of Ladismith Ladismith is a town and agricultural centre in the western Little Karoo region of South Africa's Western Cape province. Geography It is situated adjacent to a series of fertile, irrigated valleys, at an elevation of 550 m above sea level, at ... and 66 km north-east of Riversdale. History It was founded as a parish of the Dutch Reformed Church on the farm Buffelsfontein in 1904 and named after the Van Wyk family. References {{Eden District Municipality Populated places in the Kannaland Local Municipality ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Touws River (river)
The Touws River ( af, Touwsrivier) is a river in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is a tributary of the Groot River, part of the Gourits River basin. A notable resident of the town is Margaret Maritz (born 27 September 1906) who, as of 2022 and at the age of 116, was regarded as one of the oldest people in South Africa. Name The name "Touws" originates from a Khoi word for ash, which also referred to the local "Ash-bushes" (''Salsola aphylla''). It is uncertain whether the name originally referred to the bushes, or to the colour of the river (historically, the Touws river was occasionally known as the "Ash river"). It also gave its name to the town of Touws River, which lies on the upper reaches of this river. Course It sources are in the Matroosberg, Hex River Mountains, near the town of De Doorns. In its upper course it is known as the Smalblaar and the . Flowing in a southeastern direction, it flows past Touws River town, meeting the right bank of the Groot Ri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Little Karoo
The Karoo ( ; from the Afrikaans borrowing of the South Khoekhoe !Orakobab or Khoemana word ''ǃ’Aukarob'' "Hardveld") is a semi-desert natural region of South Africa. No exact definition of what constitutes the Karoo is available, so its extent is also not precisely defined. The Karoo is partly defined by its topography, geology and climate, and above all, its low rainfall, arid air, cloudless skies, and extremes of heat and cold.Potgieter, D.J. & du Plessis, T.C. (1972) ''Standard Encyclopaedia of Southern Africa''. Vol. 6. pp. 306–307. Nasou, Cape Town.''Reader’s Digest Illustrated Guide to Southern Africa''. (5th Ed. 1993). pp. 78–89. Reader’s Digest Association of South Africa Pty. Ltd., Cape Town. The Karoo also hosted a well-preserved ecosystem hundreds of million years ago which is now represented by many fossils. The ǃ’Aukarob formed an almost impenetrable barrier to the interior from Cape Town, and the early adventurers, explorers, hunters, and travelers o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Klein Swartberg Mountains
The Swartberg mountains (''black mountain'' in Afrikaans) are a mountain range in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is composed of two main mountain chains running roughly east–west along the northern edge of the semi-arid Little Karoo. To the north of the range lies the other large semi-arid area in South Africa, the Great Karoo. Most of the Swartberg Mountains are above 2000 m high, making them the tallest mountains in the Western Cape. It is also one of the longest, spanning some 230 km from south of Laingsburg in the west to between Willowmore and Uniondale in the east. Geologically, these mountains are part of the Cape Fold Belt. Much of the Swartberg is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The two ranges The Swartberg consists of two officially named ranges, the Smaller and the Greater Swartberg Mountains. ''Klein Swartberge'' The Smaller Swartberg are the westernmost of the two. Ironically, this range is the higher one, including the province's high ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Laingsburg, Western Cape
Laingsburg is a town located in the Western Cape province in South Africa. It is a relatively large agricultural town in the semi-arid Great Karoo. It was partially destroyed in a flash flood in 1981. History Following the arrival of the early Dutch, German and Huguenot pioneer settlers in 1727–1728, the area was settled by 18 Trekboer farmer families who trekked up from Still bay and Swellendam, led by the Meiring, Bezuidenhout, Botha, van Rooyen, van Heerden, Holtzhausen, Eksteen, Du Plouuy, Roussouw, Joubert and Viljoen families, who established sheep and orange farms in the area. In 1738 the settlement raised a Commando militia platoon of 20 Riflemen, 5 Mounted Riflemen, 2 field guns and 8 gunners. It was led by Commandant Cornelius Steyn and Field Cornet Petrus Holtzhausen till the 1760s. In the 1760s the Commando organised long range punitive and reconnaissance raids deep into Beaufort West and Nelspoort to recover cattle and sheep. In 1774 the settlement sent an advan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Buffels River (Groot River)
The Groot River is a river in the southern area of the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is a right hand tributary of the Gourits River. Course The Groot River rises in the Komsberg Escarpment of the Great Karoo, about 40 km south of Sutherland in the Northern Cape Province, and is known as the Komsberg in its upper course. Flowing southeastwards it becomes the Buffels River. It then bends southwards through Laingsburg and flows first southeast, then south into the Floriskraal Dam, and then southwest, before it flows southwards again and cuts across the Klein Swartberg Mountains through the Buffelspoort, a deep gorge, into the Little Karoo. The river eventually becomes the Groot River at the point where the Buffels and the Klein-Swartberg River meet, about 50 km before its confluence with the Touws River, and then it flows eastwards, past Van Wyksdorp, towards its confluence with the Gourits River. Its main tributary is the Touws River that rises in the He ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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