The Groot River is a river in the southern area of 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 ...

province of

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 ...

. It is a right hand tributary of the

Gourits River Gourits River (), sometimes spelled 'Gouritz River', is situated in the Western Cape, South Africa. The Gourits River flows from the confluence of the Gamka River and Olifants River and is joined by the Groot River, before flowing through the ...

Course

The Groot River rises in the Komsberg Escarpment of the

Great 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 ...

, about 40 km south of

Sutherland Sutherland () is a Counties of Scotland, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area in the Scottish Highlands, Highlands of Scotland. The name dates from the Scandinavian Scotland, Viking era when t ...

in the

Northern Cape The Northern Cape ( ; ; ) is the largest and most sparsely populated Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa. It was created in 1994 when the Cape Province was split up. Its capital is Kimberley, South Africa, Kimberley. It includes ...

Province, and is known as the Komsberg in its upper course. Flowing southeastwards it becomes the Buffels River. It then bends southwards through Laingsburg and flows first southeast, then south into the Floriskraal Dam, and then southwest, before it flows southwards again and cuts across the Klein Swartberg Mountains through the

Buffelspoort Buffelspoort is the westernmost of five defiles that cut through the Swartberg Mountain range, situated in the Western Cape province of South Africa. The others are the Seweweekspoort, Die Poort, where the Gamka River transects Die Hel, Meir ...

, a deep gorge, into the

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 ...

. The river eventually becomes the Groot River at the point where the Buffels and the Klein-Swartberg River meet, about 50 km before its confluence with the Touws River, and then it flows eastwards, past Van Wyksdorp, towards its confluence with the Gourits River.Gouritz WMA 16
/ref> Its main tributary is the Touws River that rises in 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 flows eastwards through the town of the same name and south into the Little Karoo, where it joins the Groot River's right bank.

Dams in the Groot River basin

* Floriskraal Dam (capacity ), * Bellair Dam (capacity ), * Miertjieskraal Dam

References

{{reflist Rivers of the Western Cape

Course

Dams in the Groot River basin

See also

References