River
Gourits River
416 km from source to mouth · South Africa.
South AfricaFlows into Indian Ocean10th longest in South Africa
In numbers
Length
416km
Average flow
43m³/s
Basin
45,715km²
Drop
950m
from 949 m to -1 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
416 km of river and 7 stops on the way: 2 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 949 m
- 169 kmStompdrift Reservoir3.9 km²
- 191 kmDysselsdorp15,029 people
- 217 kmOudtshoorn73,694 people
- 275 kmOlifants River (Southern Cape)tributary
- 282 kmGamka Rivertributary
- 332 kmGroot Rivertributary
- 386 kmGouritz River Bridge
- 416 kmIndian Oceanat -1 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in the Western Cape, South Africa
At the mouth it carries 43 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 59 seconds. It drops from 949 m to -1 m, 2.3 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 45,715 km², about the size of EE. 214,000 people live in it. Highest water: from May to June, August and October. Dams and reservoirs hold back a large share of its water (18% of a year's flow).
Where to start
- OudtshoornLargest city on its banks · 73,694 people
- George Airport (GRJ)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 48 km from the cityCar hire at GRJ airport (George)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water2 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From December to February, May and SeptemberThe best months to visit
Gourits River, month by month
Highest water: from May to June, August and October
Best months to visit: from December to February, May and September.
From about 24 m³/s in the lowest month to 65 m³/s in the highest. An estimate: the monthly flow is modelled from the lowest and highest months of WaterGAP (RiverATLAS, 1971–2000) and the rain and snow along the river (WorldClim). Dams change the real rhythm. The chip is the average air temperature; below it, the month's rain.
Plan the trip
Plan the trip: boat trips, a bed by the river, a car
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
The basin
Gourits River: the basin in numbers
45,075 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 214,000people live in the basin
- 5/km²people per km²
- 780maverage altitude of the basin
- 295mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 15.6°Caverage air temperature
- 7%protected areas
- 0.2km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 5% Forest
- 6% Cropland
- 74% Pasture
RiverATLAS (HydroATLAS v1.0, CC BY 4.0): land cover, people, protected areas, glaciers and dams over the whole basin upstream of the mouth.
Along the river
Gourits River: what you find on the way
- 5Weirs
- 2Boat rampsKanon slipway
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.2 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Gourits River in our other atlases
What our sister atlases know about the waterfalls on this river, the lakes it flows through, the beaches at its mouth, the mountains where it rises and the islands off its mouth.
1lake on its wayLakeyas
5beaches at the mouth and on the banksCoastya
21mountains at the sourcePeakyas
Lakes and reservoirs (1)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Stompdrift Reservoirkm 1623.9km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
Beaches (5)
At the mouth (25 km) and on the banks, by Coastya
- Kanonstrand2.3 km away21.5°C
- Meester se Baai8.7 km away · cove21.5°C
- Malbaai6.9 km away · cove21.5°C
- Le Grange se Baai20 km away · cove21.6°C
- Holkom8.3 km away · cove21.5°C
Mountains at the source (21)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Voetpadsrug12 km away
- Vaalrant11 km away
- Vaalkop9.9 km away
- Teeboskop11 km away
- Spioenkop6.1 km away
- Skoolrant8.5 km away
- Rooiberge5.5 km away
- Platspekboomkop9.4 km away
13 more on PeakyasOpen Peakyas ↗
From space
The source and the mouth, seen from orbit
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX IT Services GmbH (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2016), CC BY 4.0. The glowing line is the river as drawn by RiverATLAS.
Photos
Gourits River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
Tributaries (4)
Also: Groot River, Olifants River (Southern Cape), Gamka River, Boesmansrivier
Where these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q3642203) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Course, profile, basin | RiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed along the river network from the point given by Wikidata |
| Flow | WaterGAP (RiverATLAS), 1971–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate along the river | WorldClim (RiverATLAS), 1970–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Towns, bridges, dams | Wikidata · CC0; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0 |
| Along the river | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Our other atlases | Lakeyas, Coastya, Peakyas — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0; HydroLAKES · CC BY 4.0; NOAA OISST |
Every source and licence is on the data sources page.
The family
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?
Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.
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Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit