South Africa: Orange River at Upington water levels and flood

Orange River water level in 2022 & 2023 - Northern Cape, South Africa.

Mention Upington and the mind conjures up visions of a desolate unbaked southern Kalahari desert town where man's existence is a daily struggle. But how wrong can one be.

Through this harsh landscape that surrounds Upington runs a glittering green ribbon - the fertile Orange River valley which brings life-giving water from the distant highlands of Lesotho to the town.

Location

The town is centrally located on the Namaqua Route between Johannesburg, Cape Town and Namibia. As such road kilometer distances between Upington & the following town are:

Johannesburg 804, Cape town 894, Windhoek 973, Augrabies Falls National Park 120, Kgalagadi Transfrontier National Park 268, Kimberley 411, Springbok 374, Buchuberg Dam 120 Groblershoop 121, Keimoes 40, Kakamas 81, Pofadder 206, Kenhardt 130, Rietfontein 219.

POPULATION

Approximately 60 000 people live in Upington.

HISTORY

A Hottentot chieftain Klaas Lucas, realized the value of being able to read and write. He also knew that the missionaries could help his people to acquire these skills, so in 1870 he appealed for the establishment of a mission station at Olyfenhoutsdrift (Ford at the olivewood trees). The Reverend Christiaan was sent up from Cape town. Permission to establish the Olyfenhoudsdrift Mission was secured from Klaas Pofadder who claimed ownership of the area.

Consequently, building work began when foundations were laid in 1873. Pioneer settlers such as Japie Lutz and the Reverend Christiaan were quick to realize the irrigation possibilities along the Orange. They hand dug the first irrigation canals in 1880 and some of them are still in use today. Since then Upington grew rapidly and became the commercial, agricultural and educational center of the Gordonia district. The latter was named after sir Gordon Sprigg, a former prime minister of the Cape Colony.

ATTRACTIONS

The Mighty Kalahari

Discover the unspoilt beauty of this less travelled region. Hunting, hiking and sightseeing are a few of the many activities available to keep you busy.

Kalahari Gemsbok National Park

Game viewing at its best

SA Dried Fruit Co-operative

Situated on the road to Groblershoop. More than ten percent of South Africa's vineyards or 23,5 million vines are cultivated along the lower Orange River. Products are distributed to the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Canada, Switzerland, the Scandinavian Countries and Argentina. The factory covers an area of more than 2 ha and processes and packs all dried sultanas in the country.

Kalahari Oranje Museum

Built by the Reverend Schroder in 1875 as a church and mission station. Domestic items dating from that era and articles relating to the history of Upington and the lower Orange River can be seen here. The museum is home to the life-sized monument of the donkey, sculptured in bronze by Hennie Potgieter.

It symbolizes the unselfish contribution made by the donkey in developing the Lower Orange River Valley during the pioneer days.

Oranje Rivier Co-operative Wine Cellars

Situated in the industrial area. This five cellar co-operative is the second largest in the world. It presents the visitor with a unique range of natural and fortified wines. Wine tasting & tours are offered.

Augrabies Waterfall

Named by the Khoi people, Augrabies, meaning "Place of great Noise". It is truly a spectacular sight to see the Orange River cascading 60m down in a mighty waterfall.

Skaapland Butchery Franchise

International specialists in the meat industry recognise Skaapland Butchery as one of the most modern butcheries in the world and equals German Technological standards. It is the first registered butchery franchise in South Africa and worth a visit !

Spitskop Nature Reserve

Only 13 km from Upington, it offers wonderful game viewing and bird watching.

ECONOMY

Upington's economy relies heavily on agriculture, tourism and the service industry. There is also a lively informal sector present in the town. A number of companies like the Oranje Co-operative, Karakul & Livestock Co-operative (KLK) and Oranje Rivier Co-op Wine cellars have their head offices in Upington.

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South Africa: Herschell, Ocean King, Strathblane, Cape Columbine & Namaqua shipwrecks

SAHRA Maritime and Underwater Cultural Heritage

January 23:

Shawnee wreck in Namibia

“This day in our shipwreck and aeronautical wreck history”

1852: Herschell, this wooden snow wrecked in a strong south-easterly gale near Rietvlei in Table Bay in the Western Cape. 

1881: Ocean King, this sailing barque foundered within 20 minutes after striking Penguin Rock, about 32 km south of Port Nolloth off the west coast in the Northern Cape.

1890: Strathblane, this schooner-rigged steam-powered freighter wrecked just west of Cape Recife in the Eastern Cape. It was on its way from London to Durban when it struck a submerged rock and was run ashore, where it wrecked. 

1980: Cape Columbine, this fishing tug foundered about 20 km from the Durban harbour in KwaZulu-Natal.

1993: Namaqua, this wooden fishing vessel wrecked on the north-east corner of Dassen Island off the west coast in the Western Cape.

2020: South African Civil Aviation Authority Cessna S550 Citation (registration no. ZS-CAR), this flight inspection aircraft wrecked 5km northwest of Friemersheim after crashing into the Outeniqua Mountains in the Western Cape. All three occupants lost their lives.

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Namibia: Fascinating Diamond History

Fascinating Diamond History in Namibia

The prospects for diamond mining in the area of Meob Bay started during the diamond rush of 1908 to 1914.

The coastline of Namibia is home to a number of archaeological sites. The area of Meob Bay, which is about 173 km from Walvis Bay, also forms part of the early days of the diamond mining area.

Only operators who are concession holders are allowed to travel in these restricted areas.

This area between Meob Bay and Conception Bay (104 km from Walvis Bay) area is Diamond area no. 2.

Meob Bay was used as a harbour to offload mining equipment and personnel during the diamond rush from 1908 to 1914. By 1928 various infrastructure improvements were made, a bakery was in operation by then, providing settlements with fresh bread on a weekly basis with an introduced mule express.

The only remaining hut, today at Meob Bay, served as an office and accommodation to the then transport manager of the Namaqua Diamond Company.

DIAMOND MINING

The official story of Namibia’s diamond history starts in April 1908, when young railway worker Zacharias Lewala picked up a large shiny diamond while on duty during the railway construction between Lüderitz and Kolmanskuppe. Little did he know that this ordinary act would set off a chain of events so large, it would change the course of history.

An avalanche of fortune hunters, whose eyes sparkled in awe of the world’s purest, most precious diamonds, descended upon this desert land.

This resulted in an uncontrollable diamond rush, forcing the secretary of the colonial administration, Dr. Bernhard Dernbug, to proclaim a ‘Sperrgebiet’, between 26 degrees south latitude (Gibraltar/ Northern Rocks, 75 km north of Lüderitz) and the Orange River stretching 100 km inland.

This southern area covered 26 000 km². Existing claims were honoured, but mining rights for the rest of the land were given to the Deutsche Kolonialgesellschaft für Südwestafrika to control prospecting.

Prospectors then started to turn northwards and this resulted in the discovery of diamonds at Spencer Bay in December 1908 as well as between Meob Bay and Conception Bay area.

Transporting of supplies and mining equipment was mainly from Swakopmund by ship and the cutter vessels Viking via Sandwich Harbour, Conception Bay and Meob Bay. The mining settlements of Holstatia, Charlottenfelder and Grillenberger were established during the 1920s.

The biggest of the settlements, Grillenberger, was home to a large machine workshop, store, a small field hospital with 20 beds, a slaughter house, police office and post office with a switchboard for local telephone communication.

For senior employees, a hall was erected as well as storage facilities and stables. For the contract labourers, A-frame huts were erected, which can still be seen. About 12 contract labourers were housed in these A-frame huts.

North of Grillenberger, an ox wagon can be seen with special wide iron bands that made transportation possible in the sandy areas.

Also to be seen in the area is a railway line running from Conception Water to Conception Bay. The latter was used as a harbour, and at Conception Water boreholes provided fresh water to the surrounding areas. From Conception Water, a 80 km water pipeline was constructed to supply the three mining settlements with water.

In 1914, everyone in this area was requested to stop all diamond finding operations and to proceed to Swakopmund. This order came as a result of an unexpected invasion of allied troops.

During 1920, activities recommenced in this area and only four companies operated here until De Beers purchased the concession areas in 1929. From old mining records it is clear that the average diamonds found in this area were much smaller than those found at Lüderitz.

The great depression, which led to the crash of the New York stock exchange in October 1929, negatively affected the sales of diamonds from these diamond fields.

Consequently, Namaqua Diamonds ceased operations on 28 January 1931 and went into liquidation. Most of the concessions were then bought by Consolidated Diamond Mines (CDM) of South West Africa. Since then the South West Africa administration closed these diamond fields for prospecting, and all 389 workers and European employees had to leave these fields within hours, leaving everything behind.

After the second World War a company Industrial Diamonds of South Africa (1945) did extensive prospecting in the area around Meob, but found no diamond and CDM abandoned Meob in the early 1960s.

RECOVERY METHODS

During the first weeks of the diamond rush, diamonds were picked up by hand from the surface of the desert. People crawled on the ground with jam tins to put in the diamonds.

To speed up the process, sieves were used to separate the fine sand from the larger grains, which contained the diamonds. Charlie Bannau, introduced a more sophisticated method, where he submerged the sieve with the coarser gravel in a trough filled with sea water, then rotated it. By doing this the diamonds moved to the centre of the sieve. He then placed the sieve upside down on the back of an empty beer crate from where the diamonds could be picked up. However, the problem was the use of too much water in the desert.

Shortly after, the Trommel sieves were introduced. They were hand operated and larger amounts of sediments could be sieved. Subsequent to the sieving, the diamond bearing gravel was hand or gravitated in smaller round sieves.

Today, only remnants of these activities are visible and are deteriorating at an alarming rate. These settlements give a rare insight into the harsh desert environment and the hardships endured by the indigenous people and early settlers of Namibia.

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Namibia: Roter Kamm crater

Roter Kamm crater

Roter Kamm (German: Red Ridge) is a meteorite crater, located in the Sperrgebiet, within the Namibian section of the Namib Desert, approximately 80 kilometres north of Oranjemund and 12 kilometres southwest of Aurus Mountain in the ǁKaras Region. The crater is 2.5 kilometres in diameter and is 130 metres deep. The age is estimated at 4.81 ± 0.5 Ma, placing it in the Pliocene. The crater is exposed at the surface, but its original floor is covered by sand deposits at least 100 metres thick.

Description

The meteorite hit a layer of Precambrian granitic gneiss that is part of the Namaqua Metamorphic Complex, overlaid with some younger sedimentary rocks. No parts of the meteorite have been found, suggesting that it completely evaporated upon impact. The meteor that hit it was approximately the size of an SUV.

The Roter Kamm impact structure exposes a large volume of cataclastic/mylonitic and pseudotachylitic breccias in the basement granite and gneisses, which is unusual for small craters. Anomalous quartz found at the rim of the crater, and the primary fluid inclusions in the quartz, seem to provide evidence for post-impact hydrothermal activity, generated by impact heat, at the Roter Kamm impact crater. Eolian and alluvial processes each played a role in modifying the Roter Kamm impact crater since its formation. Much of the more recent history of crater modification relates to eolian processes. Active mobile sands largely bury the crater and effectively mask most of the signatures associated with prior activity by other processes. Ongoing eolian erosion is responsible for scouring of the exposed rim.

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