Tyhume River

The Tyhume Valley overlooking the Hogsback Pass

The Tyhume River (English Tyhume River, afrik. Tyhumerivier ) is a river in South Africa's Eastern Cape Province. It is about 65 kilometers long and has a catchment area of ​​about 530 square kilometers. The river rises in the region close to the Hogsback Michel 's Pass in the Amathole Mountains. Its confluence with the Keiskamma River is located in a flat plane near the Farm Junction 200 and the settlements Mbizana and kuDikidikana.

Course

The source region of the Tyhume River is the Hogsback in the Amathole Mountains. She has a number of small tributaries. The eastern portion is located on the inclined slope a great height level, so the water falls from the edge of a massive dolerite storage aisle in waterfalls with a height of over 10 meters in depth. The best known are the Kettlespout, Swallowtail, Madonna and Child and The 39 Steps Waterfall near the Hogsback Pass. The western area of the source area is located on the northern flank of the Menziesberges. Here the abundance of water is so high that for the locality Hogsback a small dam ( Dam Plaatjieskraal ) was applied. Annual rainfall of over 1000 mm are typical here.

Below the height level from the Hogsback Pass the many small rivers unite to Tyhume river in a trough-shaped valley flattens out quickly in a southerly direction.

In the former Farm Binfield an artificial lake was created, which occupies an important role within the Amatole Water Project of the provincial government. The water reservoir is named Tyumerivier Dam or Dam Binfield. Some other small ponds in the immediate vicinity of the dam are used for water regulation for the farmland. The comparatively very high for the Eastern Cape rainfall in Hogsback and throughout the Amathole region make here a drinking particularly useful. Prior to the construction of water control systems, the settlements and the former stations of the Lovedale Mission to the 20th century suffered repeated damage from Soaring high water.

After the course of the river Tyhume River has left the valley named after him on the southern slopes of the Amathole Mountains behind him, he passed the small town of Alice. In the northeastern area there are some small ponds, which are located in close proximity to the river. From here the river meanders to its confluence with the River Keiskamma.

The lateral tributaries of the River Tyhume are insignificant, it is among other watercourses Ncera, Mbashe, Evergreen Stream, Gwali and Kwezana.

Geological conditions

Its headwaters and upper basin is characterized mainly by Paleozoic rocks. These are sandstones, shales and gray schluffartige rocks of the Balfour Formation within the Beaufort Group. In many places the rivers are in the headwaters of dolerites in the form of dykes and sills in contact. In Tyhume Valley and the flat undulating landscape around Alice these subsurface conditions continue. Near this town the river has generated considerable Quaternary deposits.

In the lower reaches, south of Alice, prevail only Schluffgesteine ​​next sandstones before, both from the Middleton Formation of the Upper Permian.

Reserves

In the headwaters of the River Tyhume the remains of the natural forest stand located in the Amathole Mountains. To protect this sensitive and endangered ecosystem has created the Auckland Nature Reserve (218 ha). Here you will also find copies of the Outeniqa yellowwood tree ( the ordinary African yellow wood). Most of this nature reserve is located in the catchment area of the River Tyhume.

History

The Tyhume Valley is a traditional settlement area of ​​the Xhosa and was highly competitive in the border wars of the 19th century as a desirable farmland. Here was the road leading to the Hogsback Pass of strategic importance.

In the settlements of the valley operation in the 19th century, the Lovedale mission some stations and promoted in this way the formation of men and women from the local Xhosa people. At this time included large areas of Tyhume Valley to District Victoria. In 1848, the military set up in Auckland, Ely, Juana mountain and Woburn small fortified stations, because at this point in the valley was the boundary line between the Cape Colony and British Kaffraria. The colonial troops opened in 1847 in the wake of this development close to the former Lovedale mission, the largest fort in the border regions of the Cape Colony. It was named after Colonel Hare, the former Lieutenant-Governor of the Eastern Province, named and had Beherbungskapazitäten for 560 infantrymen and 100 cavalrymen.

The valley is inhabited today (2009) with scattered settlements of the Xhosa tight. The old military road to the pass is designated as R 345 regional road between Alice and Cathcart.