Mzimvubu River or Umzimvubu River is one of the most important rivers in

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 ...

. It is located in the

Eastern Cape Province The Eastern Cape is one of the provinces of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, but its two largest cities are East London and Gqeberha. The second largest province in the country (at 168,966 km2) after Northern Cape, it was formed in 199 ...

Course

The river has its source in the northern region of the Eastern Cape, in the area of

Matatiele Matatiele is a town located in the northern part of the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. According to the South African National Census of 2011, its 12,466 residents (1,113.44 per km²) and 4,107 households (366.83 per km²) make Matati ...

and

Mount Fletcher Mount Fletcher (officially Tlokoeng) is a town in Joe Gqabi District Municipality in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa, 69 km north-north-east of Maclear. Founded in 1882, it takes its name from the mountain nearby. This was probab ...

near the Lesotho border. The Mzimvubu flows with twists and turns generally in a southeastern direction and flows into the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by t ...

through an impressive gorge known as the "Gates of St John" into an

estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environm ...

located at Port St. Johns. It is approximately 400 km long with a catchment area of 19,853 km². Although it is one of South Africa's major rivers, the Mzimvubu and its basin are largely undeveloped. Presently this river is part of the Mzimvubu to Keiskamma Water Management Area.

History

In 1635

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

ship 'Nossa Senhora de Belem' ran aground at the mouth of the Mzimvubu River. The Mzimvubu River divides

Pondoland Pondoland or Mpondoland (Xhosa: ''EmaMpondweni''), is a natural region on the South African shores of the Indian Ocean. It is located in the coastal belt of the Eastern Cape province. Its territory is the former Mpondo Kingdom of the Mpondo peop ...

into an Eastern and Western Pondoland. Formerly the river mouth was used as a harbor, but this activity was abandoned in the 1940s when the estuary became too shallow for large vessels owing to

siltation Siltation, is water pollution caused by particulate Terrestrial ecoregion, terrestrial Clastic rock, clastic material, with a particle size dominated by silt or clay. It refers both to the increased concentration of suspended sediments and to the ...

and the fact that the entrance is sometimes obstructed by sand. Presently the estuary is river is navigable only for small craft for about 10 km upriver.van der Merwe, E. and Costello, K. ''Port St. Johns, "Paradise in Pondoland" (2nd edition)''.

Tributaries

The main tributaries of the Mzimvubu River are the Tsitsa River, the

Thina River Thina may refer to: *, a Buddhist term sometimes translated as "sloth" * Thina River, a tributary of the Mzimvubu River of South Africa * (), an ancient Greek name of China * Thinae () or Thina, an ancient Greek name for one of the capital citi ...

(Tina), the Kinira River and the Mzintlava River.

Ecology

Some of the fishes caught in its waters are

Oncorhynchus mykiss The rainbow trout (''Oncorhynchus mykiss'') is a species of trout native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in Asia and North America. The steelhead (sometimes called "steelhead trout") is an anadromous (sea-run) form of the coastal ...

, an

introduced species An introduced species, alien species, exotic species, adventive species, immigrant species, foreign species, non-indigenous species, or non-native species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived ther ...

Barbus anoplus The chubbyhead barb (''Enteromius anoplus'') is a species of freshwater ray-finned fish in the genus ''Enteromius''. The fish is found throughout South Africa in a variety of aquatic environments. The species is notable for its two breeding season ...

and

Anguilla mossambica The African longfin eel (''Anguilla mossambica''), also known simply as the longfin eel, is an eel in the family Anguillidae.

; others, such as

Micropterus salmoides The largemouth bass (''Micropterus salmoides'') is a carnivorous freshwater gamefish in the Centrarchidae ( sunfish) family, a species of black bass native to the eastern and central United States, southeastern Canada and northern Mexico, but ...

and

Cyprinus carpio The Eurasian carp or European carp (''Cyprinus carpio''), widely known as the common carp, is a widespread freshwater fish of eutrophic waters in lakes and large rivers in Europe and Asia.Fishbase''Cyprinus carpio'' Linnaeus, 1758/ref>Arkive The ...

, are invasive species.FROC - Reference frequency of occurrence of fish species in South Africa
/ref>

References

External links

Mzimvubu River Spring SurveyKey rivers of South AfricaIs there a role for traditional governance systems in South Africa's new water management regime?
{{Authority control Rivers of the Eastern Cape Internal borders of South Africa