The Riviersonderend Mountains are a
mountain range
A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have arise ...
in the
Cape Fold Belt
The Cape Fold Belt is a fold and thrust belt of late Paleozoic age, which affected the sequence of sedimentary rock layers of the Cape Supergroup in the southwestern corner of South Africa. It was originally continuous with the Ventana Mount ...
of the
Western Cape
The Western Cape is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , and the third most populous, with an estimated 7 million inhabitants in 2020 ...
province of
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
. They run east to west from
Riviersonderend
Riviersonderend is a village in the Overberg region of the Western Cape, South Africa, about east of Cape Town. It is located on a loop of the Sonderend River, from which it takes its name. In the census of 2011 it was recorded as having a popula ...
to
Villiersdorp
Villiersdorp is a town of approximately 10,000 people located in the Western Cape province of South Africa in the Overberg region.
Unlike most of the geographical region which specialises in wheat and canola farming, the Villiersdorp Valley is no ...
, separating the
Breede River Valley
Breede River Valley is a region of Western Cape Province, South Africa known for being the largest fruit and wine producing valley in the Western Cape, as well as South Africa's leading race-horse breeding area. It is part of the Cape Winelands, B ...
from the
Overberg
__NOTOC__
Overberg is a region in South Africa to the east of Cape Town beyond the Hottentots-Holland mountains. It lies along the Western Cape Province's south coast between the Cape Peninsula and the region known as the Garden Route in the e ...
region. They are composed of
Table Mountain Sandstone
The Table Mountain Sandstone (TMS) is a group of rock formations within the Cape Supergroup sequence of rocks. Although the term "Table Mountain Sandstone" is still widely used in common parlance, the term TMS is no longer formally recogni ...
and attain a maximum height near
McGregor
McGregor may refer to:
People
* McGregor (surname)
* Clan MacGregor, a Scottish highland clan
* McGregor W. Scott (born 1962), U.S. attorney
Characters
* Mr. McGregor, a fictional character from Peter Rabbit
Places
in Canada:
* McGregor Lake ...
and
Riviersonderend
Riviersonderend is a village in the Overberg region of the Western Cape, South Africa, about east of Cape Town. It is located on a loop of the Sonderend River, from which it takes its name. In the census of 2011 it was recorded as having a popula ...
as Pilaarkop ( af, Pillar Head (1654m)). The ranges are rich in
fynbos
Fynbos (; meaning fine plants) is a small belt of natural shrubland or heathland vegetation located in the Western Cape and Eastern Cape provinces of South Africa. This area is predominantly coastal and mountainous, with a Mediterranean clim ...
flora and experience a typical
Mediterranean climate
A Mediterranean climate (also called a dry summer temperate climate ''Cs'') is a temperate climate sub-type, generally characterized by warm, dry summers and mild, fairly wet winters; these weather conditions are typically experienced in the ...
.
The name stems from the
Sonderend River
The Sonderend River, also known as the Riviersonderend (Afrikaans for ''River without an end''), is a main tributary of the Breede River, located in Western Cape Province, South Africa. The village of Riviersonderend is believed to have taken its ...
, and was originally a
literal translation
Literal translation, direct translation or word-for-word translation, is a translation of a text done by translating each word separately, without looking at how the words are used together in a phrase or sentence.
In Translation studies, trans ...
of the Khoi-khoi name ''"Kannakamkanna"'' ("river without end") into Afrikaans.
References
Mountain ranges of the Western Cape
{{WesternCape-geo-stub