The Caledon River () is a major river located in central South Africa. Its total length is , rising in the
Drakensberg
The Drakensberg (Zulu language, Zulu: uKhahlamba, Sotho language, Sotho: Maloti, Afrikaans: Drakensberge) is the eastern portion of the Great Escarpment, Southern Africa, Great Escarpment, which encloses the central South Africa#Geography, Sout ...
Mountains on the
Lesotho
Lesotho, formally the Kingdom of Lesotho and formerly known as Basutoland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Entirely surrounded by South Africa, it is the largest of only three sovereign enclave and exclave, enclaves in the world, t ...
border, flowing southwestward and then westward before joining the
Orange River
The Orange River (from Afrikaans/Dutch language, 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 Namibi ...
near
Bethulie in the southern
Free State. The river was originally named ''Prinses Wilhelminas Rivier'' in 1777, by Colonel R J Gordon.
Geography
The origin of the River Caledon is in the former
bantustan
A Bantustan (also known as a Bantu peoples, Bantu homeland, a Black people, black homeland, a Khoisan, black state or simply known as a homeland; ) was a territory that the National Party (South Africa), National Party administration of the ...
of
QwaQwa
QwaQwa was a Bantustan ("homeland") in the central eastern part of South Africa. It encompassed a very small region of in the east of the former South African province of Orange Free State, bordering Lesotho. Its capital was Witsieshoek. It was ...
, near the border with Lesotho, southwest of
Witsieshoek
Phuthaditjhaba (previously Witsieshoek), is a town in the Free State province of South Africa. It is located in a section of the Drakensberg mountains ( Maloti in the Sesotho language). It borders the province of KwaZulu-Natal to the south east ...
. It then flows south-west bordering Lesotho's capital city,
Maseru
Maseru is the capital and largest city of Lesotho. It is also the capital of the Maseru District. Located on the Caledon River, Maseru lies directly on the Lesotho–South Africa border. Maseru had a population of 330,760 in the 2016 census. T ...
. It forms the border between
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
and Lesotho before entering South Africa's Free State province (north of
Wepener). It then flows westward before joining the
Orange River
The Orange River (from Afrikaans/Dutch language, 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 Namibi ...
near Bethulie in southern Free State, just before flowing into the
Gariep Dam. Its total length is about , and its valley experiences great temperature swings.
The land in the wedge between Caledon River and Orange River forms the 22,000-ha
Tussen-die-Riviere Nature Reserve.
River
The river is the primary source of water for Maseru, the capital of Lesotho, which stands on the river. During periods of low rainfall, water shortages can ensue. To combat this, several
reservoir
A reservoir (; ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam, usually built to water storage, store fresh water, often doubling for hydroelectric power generation.
Reservoirs are created by controlling a watercourse that drains an existing body of wa ...
s have been created with structures such as the
Muela Dam and the
Meulspruit Dam. In 2003, water was released from here to avert
drought
A drought is a period of drier-than-normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, ...
.
The Caledon Valley is important in the history of the
Basotho
The Sotho (), also known as the Basotho (), are a Sotho-Tswana ethnic group indigenous to Southern Africa. They primarily inhabit the regions of Lesotho, South Africa, Botswana and Namibia.
The ancestors of the Sotho people are believed to h ...
people. The area was exceptionally fertile and could be farmed without irrigation. This made it desirable and was one of the causes of the conflict between the Basotho and the
Boers
Boers ( ; ; ) are the descendants of the proto Afrikaans-speaking Free Burghers of the eastern Cape frontier in Southern Africa during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. From 1652 to 1795, the Dutch East India Company controlled the Dutch ...
.
Maize is grown on a large scale in the Caledon Valley.
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See also
*Basutoland
Basutoland was a British Crown colony that existed from 1884 to 1966 in present-day Lesotho, bordered with the Cape Colony, Natal Colony and Orange River Colony until 1910 and completely surrounded by South Africa from 1910. Though the Basot ...
References
External links
Free State Region River Systems
{{authority control
Tributaries of the Orange River
Rivers of Lesotho
International rivers of Africa
Lesotho–South Africa border
Rivers of the Free State (province)
Border rivers