30-Sep-2013 -- We planned to visit this Confluence on 26 September 2013 but had to rearrange our schedule slightly and changed the visit to 30 September, after our trip through the Baviaanskloof instead of before as originally planned.
The Karoo has a charm of its own and we love travelling on seldom used roads as you see nature from a different angle. We started from Marlu Guest Farm near Steytlerville, travelled west and passed through Willowmore and Vondeling, previously a station but now largely deserted. Here we turned north and took some back roads to Prins Albert. Willowmore is a small village that serves the farming community of the area and it is located to the North of the eastern end of the Swartberg mountain range. Prins Albert, roughly the same size as Willowmore, is located on the northern side of the middle of the Swartberg mountain range, also serving the farming community. Most of the gravel roads that we travelled on were in a good condition, care is needed negotiating the many drifts, and we were surprised by water in some of the river crossings.
From Prins Albert we took road P0373, north, to Kruidfontein, a siding on the main railway between Cape Town and Johannesburg and situated on the N1, the main road between Cape Town and Beaufort West. Kruidfontein lies 9 km south west of Leeu-Gamka. From about 3 km south of the confluence point until 6 km from the N1 this road runs along the eastern bank of the Gamka River.
We located the longitude, S33:00:00, close to a farm and tried to get access to get permission to cross the fence next to the road to proceed to the Confluence, but all gates were closed and everything was very quiet at the farm buildings. The farm is called Watervalsrivier. We parked about 50 m up the road from the farm entrance and jumped the fence and located the confluence point 175 m east of the road at 14:39 on 30 September 2013. The GPS showing S33:00:00 E22:00:00 and 495 m.
The area at the confluence is very sparsely vegetated showing bare soil and some stones, typical of the Karoo. It appears that it has been some time since it rained in the area, everything just looks dry and no green is seen except near the river towards the West. It is reasonably level in the vicinity of the Confluence with small hills to the North, East, and South. To the South the Swartberg mountains are visible in the distance.
After the visit we proceeded north to the N1 at Kruidfontein, turned west and headed home to Cape Town.