RIVER CAPTURE
Did you know that we don’t actually live on a mountain We live in a basin!
That’s the message from one of the speakers at a recent function arranged by the Haenertsburg Library as part of National Heritage Month. Let me explain as best I can!
If you stand at somewhere like Cheerio Gardens, you would be approximately in the centre of a ‘basin’ that has a diameter of about fifteen kilometres. All the rivers and streams that rise within this basin eventually flow away to the east down the Letaba River below Ebenezer Dam. As we all know, or should know, is that the R528, more commonly known as the Georges Valley road, runs on one side or the other of the Letaba River until it reaches the Tzaneen Dam.
Now, the point is that if Georges Valley was to be blocked by another large piece of mountain, thereby completing the rim, almost everybody living on what they fondly call the ‘mountain’, would actually be living at the bottom of a large lake filling the basin.
It’s worth a thought, but it should not be a matter of concern!
To complete this story, or should I say to add value to this tale, let me tell you something that I think is quite interesting.
As we all know, or should know, Ebenezer Dam is fed by two main rivers, the Broederstroom and the Helpmekaar. Long before the dam was built, these two rivers met somewhere close to the present dam wall and created the river now known as the Letaba. Now, for the interesting bit!
This new river didn’t flow down the valley to the east but flowed via the Mohlapitse River through the Wolkberg to join the Olifants towards the south.
This was a happy arrangement for hundreds of thousands of years and no-one noticed that the Letaba River was gradually eroding its way back up Georges Valley towards the aforementioned Mohlapitse. One sunny afternoon, the Letaba finally eroded its way far enough upstream to capture the combined waters of the Broederstroom and the Helpmekaaar that were happily flowing into the Mohlapitse.
Oh my word! The site of this dastardly deed was almost exactly where Magoebaskloof Adventures is located today.
Shortly before reaching this centre of exhilarating zip-line rides – amongst other activities – coming from the Haenertsburg side, is a road branching off to the right which follows the Mohlapitse and leads to the entrance gate into the Wolkberg Wilderness Area. As you drive down this road, you will see a long, narrow dam on your left-hand side. This is no ordinary dam because it has a dam wall at both ends!
This short stretch of thoroughly confused water is the result of that act of river piracy or capture so many long years ago. The water just doesn’t know which way to go!
There will be more about the Wolkberg Wilderness Area sometime soon. It’s a very special place for those who have come to understand that the wilderness holds answers to questions we have not yet learned to ask. And them’s my sentiments, with a quick thought to go with them.
Are we alone in the universe? The answer is yes and no. Each one is terrifying!
Stay safe.
Fred Bullock
