Buffalo River (Eastern Cape)
Trains on the Buffalo River in East London (picture from 1870 archives of the Cape Colony )
The Buffalo River (English Buffalo River, afrik. Buffalorivier ) is a river in South Africa's Eastern Cape Province. It is about 133 kilometers long and has a catchment area of 1279 square kilometers. The Buffalo River rises on the southeast flank of Mount Kempt in Isidenge Mountains, a spur of the Amathole Mountains. Its mouth is located in the city of East London on the Indian Ocean.
Course
In its headwaters, north-west of King William 's Town, it is fed by several small streams. This region is one of the most forested areas throughout the Eastern Cape Province and is called Pirie Forest. The sources are located at an altitude of about 1200 meters above sea level.
Four water dams in the catchment area used for drinking water and industrial water supply for the region of the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality. These are the maggots Dam and the Rooikransdam in its headwaters, the Laing Dam at Zwelitsha and the Bridle Drift Dam in Mdantsane. The water extraction and treatment is carried out by the state-owned enterprise Amatola Water, especially for the large settlements King William 's Town, Zwelitsha, Mdantsane and East London.
Important tributaries are the rivers Cwengcwe (also applies as the headwaters ), Mgqakwebe and the Yellow River Woods. In addition, there are the tributaries Tshoxa, Ngqokweni and Tshabo.
Its lower reaches winds as a prominent valley cut in a wavy landscape west of the economically important port city of East London. Not far from her he touches the reserve Fort Pato Nature Reserve. This forms a part of the forest area, which attracts on the south bank of its lower reaches as far as the outskirts of East London.
Use patterns in the catchment area
A large part of the catchment area of the Buffalo River is forest land and hardly occupied grasslands. Their share accounts for 59 percent. About 12 percent are managed as agricultural land by small farms and forestry. Approximately 12 percent form populated areas, including some larger urban settlements. About 17 per cent of its catchment area is only slightly influenced by the people and areas consist of savannenartigem grassland, bushland with shrubs and a few trees that have distinct traces of harmful soil erosion. The loss of vegetation causes the wetting fitting of mineral suspended matter from the soil into the water system, resulting in a significant turbidity of the watercourse and the lower its water quality and the artificial water reservoirs with Schluffeinträgen, mainly clay minerals, silt. In the catchment area of the Buffalo River are layers of sandstones, mudstones of the Karoo Supergroup and Cape Supergroup and clay soils.
The water quality is from the source region to above the urban area of King William 's Town good to very good. From this city, and by other industrial imprinted regions in the lower reaches of the water purity deteriorates.
The estuary zone is secured on both sides with quay walls and serves as an economic port of East London.