The Senqunyane River is a river of central

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 ...

. The river rises in the

Maluti Mountains The Maloti Mountains are a mountain range of the highlands of the Kingdom of Lesotho. They extend for about 100 km into the South African Free State. The Maloti Range is part of the Drakensberg system that includes ranges across large area ...

in northwest of Lesotho, and flows southwards and then westwards for 120 kilometres before joining the

Senqu River The Orange River (from Afrikaans/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 Namibia to the north. ...

(Orange River) in the southwest.Fitzpatrick, M., Blond, B., Pitcher, G., Richmond, S., and Warren, M. (2004) ''South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland.'' Footscray, VIC: Lonely Planet The source of the Senqunyane is the meeting point of three districts:

Thaba-Tseka District Thaba-Tseka is a Districts of Lesotho, district of Lesotho. Thaba-Tseka is also the name of the district's capital or Camptown (Lesotho), camptown, which is the only town in the district. In the east, Thaba-Tseka borders on the KwaZulu-Natal Provin ...

Berea District Berea is a district of Lesotho. In the west, Berea borders on the Free State Province of South Africa. Domestically, it borders on the following districts: Leribe District in the north, Thaba-Tseka District in southeast and Maseru District in the ...

and

Leribe District Leribè is a Districts of Lesotho, district of Lesotho. It has an area of 2,828 km2 and a population in 2016 of approximately 337,500. Hlotse is the capital or Camptown (Lesotho), camptown of the district. The district has one additional town, ...

. It forms the border between Thaba-Tseka District and first Berea and then

Maseru District Maseru is a Districts of Lesotho, district of Lesotho. Maseru is also the name of the district's capital city, capital, and is the only city in the district and also the capital of the country. It is the largest urban area in the country, and the ...

, as well as a small section of the Mafeteng District that is separated from the rest of its district and located high in the Maluti Mountains, for much of its length. Tributaries include the Bokong River, as well as the Jordane River and Likalaneng River, which join the Senqunyane shortly before the

Mohale Dam Mohale Dam is a concrete faced rock-fill dam in Lesotho. It is the second dam, under Phase 1B of the series of dams of the proposed Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP), which will eventually include five large dams in remote rural areas of Le ...

. The

, opened in 2003, is part of the

Lesotho Highlands Water Project The Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP) is an ongoing water supply project with a hydropower component, developed in partnership between the governments of Lesotho and South Africa. It comprises a system of several large dams and tunnels t ...

, diverting water to the

Katse Dam The Katse Dam, a concrete arch dam on the Malibamat'so River in Lesotho, is Africa's second largest double-curvature arch dam after the Tekezé Dam in Ethiopia. Located just below the confluence of the Bokong River, which forms the western arm ...

and hence to the

Gauteng Gauteng ( , ; Sotho-Tswana languages, Sotho-Tswana for 'place of gold'; or ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. Situated on the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa. Although Gauteng accounts f ...

region in South Africa, including the cities of

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 ...

and

Pretoria Pretoria ( ; ) is the Capital of South Africa, administrative capital of South Africa, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to the country. Pretoria strad ...

. The river is home to the rare

Rock-catfish The rock-catfish, ''Austroglanis sclateri'', is a species of catfish in the family Austroglanididae. This freshwater fish is endemic to the Vaal River in South Africa. It is also found in Lesotho and Namibia Namibia, officially the Republi ...

("Austroglanis sclateri"). The Semonkong Waterfall acts as a migration barrier separating distinct fish communities. The Senqunyane Valley is the site of a number of archaeological and rock art sites. The valley was first inhabited in the

Middle Stone Age The Middle Stone Age (or MSA) was a period of African prehistory between the Early Stone Age and the Late Stone Age. It is generally considered to have begun around 280,000 years ago and ended around 50–25,000 years ago. The beginnings of ...

. The sandstone gorge with steep cliffs poses a problem to access. A notable bridge build in 2011 crosses the river near its confluence with 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 ...

References

Rivers of Lesotho Tributaries of the Orange River {{Lesotho-river-stub

See also

References