Orange - the jugular of the Northern Cape

Just outside Alexander Bay we meet her again - an old friend!  The Orange River... jugular of the Northern Cape. The artery for the vineyards of Upington, Keimoes and Kakamas, thundering her way past Augrabies to Onseepkans. We know of her path past the missionary station at Pella, the small lucerne farms at Goodhouse, know her to be the bridge to wild adventure at Noordoewer and of the refreshment she brings to the Richersveld in summer when the mercury rises all the way past 50 degrees Celsius.  But never is the contrast between a river's course and her surroundings as stringent as here…

Down in the valley the water is winking at us, seamed by the only bit of green in the barren, grey and sandy earth - an oasis for the southern parts of the Namib desert. But it is here where the queen of the South African rivers is in agonizing deterioration! We know her to be bigger, broader, deeper and prouder than here where her path takes her between the formerly forbidden twin towns of Alexander Bay and Oranjemund. This is a 2 173 km-long wonderful gift, the fourth largest river in Africa, draining 45% of South Africa and we need her! The fact that she looks like this here, is testimony of the fact that 23 dams were built in her catchment area - water is life! A gift from God!

Every now and then she shows us her true majestic nature when she storms her way to the ocean through her floodplains - like she did in 1988 when a whopping 7 800 cubic meters (per second!) of water thundered its way down the Augrabies falls on the way to Alexander Bay. Luckily the river's gradient is quite low after passing through the falls, meaning it took days for the floodwaters to reach the twin towns. Leaving the locals just enough time to strengthen the southern river bank with the earth-moving machines of the mining companies nearby. The river took about one million tons of sediment from the north bank, sweeping it to the ocean and broadening her floodplain significantly. According to calculations, about 3,6 million tons of sand was pushed about 1,2 km into the ocean and dropped in a delta. It will most likely take a few years for the ocean to spread the sand along it shores.

In 1988 the flow of all these kiloliters of warmer fresh water from the Orange river into the colder ocean, could be followed by satellite imaging as it made its way south and along the shores of the Atlantic ocean. The results were catastrophic as it destroyed inter-tidal and shallow-water marine organisms such as mussels, urchins, limpets, red bait, rock lobster and kelp.

Large areas of the wetlands' flora were also destroyed, damaged by erosion or buried underneath tons of coarse sand - all because of these floods. Today species like Scirpus- and Sporobolus sedges, saltworts (Sarcocornia sp) and common reed (Phragmites australis) dominate the wetlands.

But the sad reality is that the majestic river is in bad shape, and this is not because of the flooding described above. This highly disturbed, modified ecological system is a result of years of degradation due to mining activities, flow regulation of the river and poor management of the river mouth. An estimated 40% of the river mouth is degraded or changed due to the cultivation of lucerne, mining activities, wind erosion, roads and sewage ponds. 

But the bad news doesn't stop here...

The rising demand for water for domestic, industrial and farming purposes in the Orange river's catchment area, puts the natural resource in the lower reaches of the river under immense pressure. The withdrawal and the regulating of water by the large number of dams in the river, has lowered the annual flow by half. If we build even one more dam in this river, the results will be catastrophic for the wetlands already struggling to survive at the river mouth. It could even lead to the river drying up periodically. Another problem is that the pollution by farmers, mines and other businesses along the river combined with the already lower water level increases the chemical and nutrient load of the river, which in turn encourages algal bloom.

The numbers of invasive or alien flora species like Mesquite Prosopis increased immensely after the 2011 floods; together with six other non-indigenous species they are considered a huge threat to the struggling wetlands.

Another threat is the pressure put on the sensitive area by the locals, for instance the catching of fish with gill nets, also the illegal hunting with dogs on the river banks and the poaching of ducks and geese. Stray dogs also cause problems on the islands and river banks, especially during the breeding time of various bird species. Quad bikes and other 4x4's, whose owners do not follow the existing roads and do not keep to the laws, are also responsible for substantial damage being done from time to time. 

Luckily for us, all is not lost...

In 1991 the wetlands here were declared a Ramsar area and in 2001 Alexcor, the diamond company owning big parts of the land surrounding Alexander Bay, promised to rehabilitate the area and restore the wetlands. "Working for Wetlands" has finished a few smaller rehabilitation projects by 2005. In 2013 Alexcor applied to be allowed to start certain rehabilitation projects and in 2014 the "Endangered Wildlife Trust" started monitoring the bird life and alien flora with their "Source to Sea Program".

Although the rehabilitation of the river, wetlands and coast will take a long time and most likely won't restore the area to its original state, aforementioned efforts are good news. And the efforts show a willingness to go in the right direction. We're cautiously optimistic for significant results...