The Salt River aka Soutrivier of the

Garden Route The Garden Route (Afrikaans: ''Tuinroete'') is a stretch of the south-eastern coast of South Africa which extends from Witsand in the Western Cape to the border of Tsitsikamma Storms River in the Eastern Cape. The name comes from the verdant an ...

arises in the

Tsitsikamma Mountains The Tsitsikamma mountains form an east-west mountain range located in the Garden Route region of the southern South African coast in the Western Cape and Eastern Cape provinces. Tsitsikamma means 'place of much water' in the Khoekhoe language. P ...

between

Knysna Knysna () is a town with 76,150 inhabitants (2019 mid-year estimates) in the Western Cape province of South Africa. and is one of the destinations on the loosely defined Garden Route tourist route. It lies at 34° 2' 6.3168'' S and 23° 2' 47. ...

and

Port Elizabeth Gqeberha (), formerly Port Elizabeth and colloquially often referred to as P.E., is a major seaport and the most populous city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, Sou ...

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 ...

, and mouths 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 th ...

just west of

Nature's Valley Nature's Valley is a holiday resort and small village on the Garden Route along the southern Cape coast of South Africa. Nature's Valley lies between the Salt River, the foothills of the Tsitsikamma Mountains, the Indian Ocean and the Groot River ...

. Normally a gentle, small stream, the river's hydrology is such that

flash floods A flash flood is a rapid flooding of low-lying areas: washes, rivers, dry lakes and depressions. It may be caused by heavy rain associated with a severe thunderstorm, hurricane, or tropical storm, or by meltwater from ice or snow flowing o ...

may sweep down its stony course after heavy rains. Rivers along this coastline are subject to such flooding, mostly having short, steep courses, but relatively large catchment areas, funneling water into narrow, steep, rocky gorges, accompanied by rapid rises in water levels. Adventuring kloofers are at risk of being swept away at such times, the last such incident having taken place in 2015. In the year 2000 the

Albany Museum The Albany Museum, South Africa is situated in Grahamstown in South Africa, is affiliated to Rhodes University and dates back to 1855,Chinsamy, Anusuya. (1997). "Albany Museum, Grahamstown, South Africa." ''Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs''. Edited by ...

based in

Grahamstown Makhanda, also known as Grahamstown, is a town of about 140,000 people in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is situated about northeast of Port Elizabeth and southwest of East London, Eastern Cape, East London. Makhanda is the lar ...

initiated surveys to determine which aquatic macroinvertebrates lived in the Salt River. This study followed on a proposal to introduce trout into the river, which has no freshwater fish of its own. Some 13 undescribed species of macroinvertebrate fauna collected by researchers proved to be of great interest, ending plans for introducing trout. This number later grew to 33 new species, several of which have been described by entomologists Ferdy de Moor and Helen James from the Albany Museum. Eleven of the Tsitsikamma rivers were selected for closer study and were found to harbour a rich diversity of aquatic insects, many of which are regionally endemic species. "''These fynbos covered sandstone mountains with their numerous gorges determine the nature of the rivers which are cold, fast-flowing, well oxygenated waters with little sediment. These rivers are acidic and of a red-brown colour, due to the presence of humic acid.''" Further studies have shown the most serious threat to the rivers' fauna to be excessive water abstraction, reduced flow leading to pH changes,

eutrophication Eutrophication is the process by which an entire body of water, or parts of it, becomes progressively enriched with minerals and nutrients, particularly nitrogen and phosphorus. It has also been defined as "nutrient-induced increase in phytopla ...

and unstable water temperatures. It was proposed that the Salt River be given special conservation status and that alien fish in dams within the catchment be removed.

References

{{coord, -33.9894, 23.5363, format=dms, type:river_region:ZA, display=title Rivers of the Western Cape