The Eerste River, located in the

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 ...

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 ...

, rises on Dwarsberg 60 km east of

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 ...

at the head of Jonkershoek valley. The Eerste River catchment covers the eastern part of the

Cape Flats The Cape Flats () is an expansive, low-lying, flat area situated to the southeast of the central business district of Cape Town. The Cape Flats is also the name of an administrative region of the City of Cape Town, which lies within the larger geo ...

lying to the west of the Hottentots Holland Mountains and south of the Tygerberg where the Kuils River tributary rises east of Kanonkop. The Eerste River is a short river; its length has been given as 40 km. The major tributary, Kuils River, is approximately 30 km long to its point of confluence with the Eerste River. For a significant part of its course, the river flows through the

City of Cape Town The City of Cape Town (; ) is a Metropolitan municipality (South Africa), metropolitan municipality that forms the metropolitan municipality (South Africa), local government of Cape Town and surrounding areas. As of 2022 it has a population of ...

. A population of the

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, inv ...

local

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

Berg River Redfin (''Pseudobarbus burgi'') was found in the Eerste River, but may be extinct in this river system.

Tributaries

From "Rivers and Wetlands of Cape Town", ordered from source to sea: *Jonkershoek River *Plankenbrug River (R) **Klipies River (L) **Kromme River (L) *Veldwachters River (R) *Sanddrif River (R) *Blouklip River (L) *Bonte River (L) *Kuils River (R) **Bottelary River (L) **Kleinvlei canal (L) *Moddergat canal (L)

Bridges

* N2 Highway bridge. *At the Kramat of Sheik Yusuf in Macassar.

Estuary and mouth

The river mouth is at , in Macassar, on the north shore of

False Bay False Bay (Afrikaans: ''Valsbaai'') is a body of water in the Atlantic Ocean between the mountainous Cape Peninsula and the Hottentots Holland Mountains in the extreme south-west of South Africa. The mouth of the bay faces south and is demarc ...

. The estuary is at the eastern end of a large calcrete dune, and is part of the boundary of the Helderberg Marine Protected Area. In its natural state the estuary was a small temporarily open system with little tidal flow. The state of the mouth was controlled by river flow, and under natural conditions, seawater intrusion would maintain an estuarine ecology. When the mouth closed, the river would back up past the Kramat to Zandvliet farm.

References

List of South African Dams
from the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (South Africa) {{Cape Town, natural Rivers of the Western Cape

Tributaries

Bridges

Estuary and mouth

See also

References