Breede River Valley is a region of

Western Cape Province 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 inhabi ...

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 ...

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 Boland bordering on becoming

Little Karoo The Karoo ( ; from the Afrikaans borrowing of the South Khoekhoe Khoemana (also known as !Orakobab or Korana) word is a semidesert natural region of South Africa. No exact definition of what constitutes the Karoo is available, so its extent i ...

towards the east.

Geography

The Breede River Valley is relatively broad and flat for a

Western Cape The Western Cape ( ; , ) is a provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the List of South African provinces by area, fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , an ...

valley, averaging at a floor height of 80m-250m above sea-level. Western regions are mostly alluvial and flat, while eastern regions have more hills of the

Bokkeveld Group The Bokkeveld Group is the second of the three main subdivisions of the Cape Supergroup in South Africa. It overlies the Table Mountain Group and underlies the Witteberg Group. The Bokkeveld Group rocks are considered to range between Lower Dev ...

with narrow alluvial deposits. The valley is framed by the high mountains of the

Cape Fold Belt The Cape Fold Belt (CFB) is a long fold-and-thrust mountain belt along the western and southern coastlines of Western Cape, South Africa. The Cape Fold Belt formed during the Permian period (300 to 250million years ago) in the late Paleozoic ...

, with the

Hex River Mountains The Hex River Mountains () make up the second highest mountain range in the Western Cape province of South Africa and are located north-east of Cape Town. They form part of a large anticline in the Cape Fold Belt mountain system and form a nort ...

and the Skurweberge to the northwest, the Langeberg Mountains (up to 2000m) to the north, the smaller Boland Mountains to the southwest, and the

Riviersonderend Mountains The Riviersonderend Mountains are a mountain range in the Cape Fold Belt of the Western Cape province of South Africa. They run east to west from Riviersonderend to Villiersdorp, separating the Breede River Valley from the Overberg region. Th ...

to the south. It stretches from

Tulbagh Tulbagh (), previously named Roodezand, then Land van Waveren later in 1804 named after Cape of Good Hope Governor Ryk Tulbagh, is a town located in the "Land van Waveren" mountain basin (also known as the Tulbagh basin), in the Cape Winelands ...

in the north to McGregor in the south and Rawsonville in the west to Ashton and Bonnievale in the east. Its namesake, the

Breede River The Breede River (), also known as Breë River, is a river in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. Travelling inland north from the city of Cape Town, the river runs in a west to east direction. The surrounding western mountains formed th ...

, flows through the broad valley as a consequent stream. The largest town in the valley is

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engl ...

, which lies almost in the centre of the valley, virtually equidistant from

in the north and the other major town,

Robertson Robertson may refer to: People * Robertson (surname) (includes a list of people with this name) * Robertson (given name) * Clan Robertson, a Scottish clan * Robertson, stage name of Belgian magician Étienne-Gaspard Robert (1763–1837) Plac ...

to the south-east. The main north-south rail and road routes traverse the valley, including the N1 highway linking

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

and

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

. It is climatically diverse, however it completely falls within a

Mediterranean Climate A Mediterranean climate ( ), also called a dry summer climate, described by Köppen and Trewartha as ''Cs'', is a temperate climate type that occurs in the lower mid-latitudes (normally 30 to 44 north and south latitude). Such climates typic ...

with most precipitation falling in winter (May through September). Towards the north and west, rainfall approaches upwards of 1000mm p.a., particularly in the Slanghoek Region near Rawsonville, whilst it becomes drier towards the south and west, with most areas averaging 300mm p.a., with areas near

only receiving 175mm p.a. Thus

Karoo The Karoo ( ; from the Afrikaans borrowing of the South Khoekhoe Khoemana (also known as !Orakobab or Korana) word is a semidesert natural region of South Africa. No exact definition of what constitutes the Karoo is available, so its extent is ...

Shrub dominates eastern hills (particularly the unique ''

Robertson Karoo Robertson Karoo is a semi-arid vegetation type, restricted to sections of the Breede River Valley, Western Cape Province, South Africa. It is a subtype of Karoo, Succulent Karoo (geographically an extension of the "Little Karoo") and is characteri ...

'' vegetation type) with lush

Fynbos Fynbos (; , ) is a small belt of natural shrubland or heathland vegetation located in the Western Cape and Eastern Cape provinces of South Africa. The area is predominantly coastal and mountainous, with a Mediterranean climate. The fynbos ...

vegetation dominating western regions. Summers can be very hot, due to its inland location, usually averaging 30 °C from December to March, but sometimes peaking near 40 °C during the hottest of days. This is due to the Du Toitskloof and

blocking cooling oceanic breezes from reaching the valley. During winter however, the valley is often colder than other seaward regions, like 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 ...

. Snow is a regular occurrence on the surrounding mountains; snow does not fall on the valley floor, although light frost does occasionally occur. Spring and Autumn are transitional periods of variable rainfall, occasional light snow on the highest peaks and mild temperatures.

References

* http://breederivervalley.co.za/ * http://www.places.co.za/html/breedevalley.html

External links

{{Coord, 33, 45, S, 19, 30, E, region:ZA_dim:70km, display=title Landforms of the Western Cape River valleys of South Africa Valleys of South Africa