The Bell River is a river that drains the

Drakensberg The Drakensberg (Afrikaans: Drakensberge, Zulu: uKhahlambha, Sotho: Maluti) is the eastern portion of the Great Escarpment, which encloses the central Southern African plateau. The Great Escarpment reaches its greatest elevation – within t ...

uplands of the Eastern Cape province of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

. Its

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...

, a part of the headwaters of the

Orange River The Orange River (from Afrikaans/Dutch: ''Oranjerivier'') is a river in Southern Africa. It is the longest river in South Africa. With a total length of , the Orange River Basin extends from Lesotho into South Africa and Namibia to the north ...

, is approximately in extent, ranging from an altitude of 1,720 m (a.m.s.l.) to 3,001 m. The river's source is near the Lesotho border () to the north of the high Naude's Neck Pass. Downstream it passes the town of

Rhodes Rhodes (; el, Ρόδος , translit=Ródos ) is the largest and the historical capital of the Dodecanese islands of Greece. Administratively, the island forms a separate municipality within the Rhodes regional unit, which is part of the S ...

, to eventually form a tributary of the Kraai River some 40 km (direct) from its source. In fact the Bell River and the Sterkspruit, become the Kraai River just northwest of Moshesh's Ford () flowing further west towards

Aliwal North Aliwal North (officially Maletswai) is a town in central South Africa on the banks of the Orange River, Eastern Cape Province. It is a medium-sized commercial centre in the northernmost part of the Eastern Cape. History Sir Harry Smith, then ...

, where it joins the

(). The river has a strong population of rainbow trout. The Bell's Wild Trout Festival is based in the town of Rhodes and is organised by the Wild Trout Association. Up to 80 participants fish for three days on 180 km of running water which is within an hour's drive of the village. The catchment area has been used extensively for grazing by commercial farmers since the 1870s. Consequently, the river's water quality and channel stability is affected by increased sediment loading from widespread gully erosion in the catchment area. As a remedy, willow species of the ''

Salix Willows, also called sallows and osiers, from the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 400 speciesMabberley, D.J. 1997. The Plant Book, Cambridge University Press #2: Cambridge. of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist s ...

'' family, in particular ''

Salix caprea ''Salix caprea'', known as goat willow, pussy willow or great sallow, is a common species of willow native to Europe and western and central Asia.Meikle, R. D. (1984). ''Willows and Poplars of Great Britain and Ireland''. BSBI Handbook 4. . Des ...

'', have been planted along the banks in an effort to prevent further channel shifting in the form of meander cutoffs.

Notes

{{reflist Rivers of the Eastern Cape