Kraai River
| Kraai River | ||
 Kraai River at Barkly East |
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| Data | ||
| location | southern africa | |
| River system | Orange | |
| Drain over | Orange → Atlantic | |
| origin | Confluence of the Bell River and Sterkspruit 30 ° 51 ′ 9 ″ S , 27 ° 46 ′ 40 ″ E |
|
| Source height | 1724 m | |
| muzzle | near Aliwal North in the Orange Coordinates: 30 ° 40 ′ 1 ″ S , 26 ° 45 ′ 6 ″ E 30 ° 40 ′ 1 ″ S , 26 ° 45 ′ 6 ″ E |
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| Mouth height | 1305 m | |
| Height difference | 419 m | |
| Bottom slope | approx. 1.7 ‰ | |
| length | approx. 250 km | |
| Medium-sized cities | Aliwal North | |
| Small towns | Barkly East | |
The Kraai River ( Afrikaans Kraairivier , literally "Crow River") is a river in the South African province of Eastern Cape . Its origin is 22 km northeast of Barkly East .
River course
The origin is 1724 m above sea level and is formed by the confluence of the Bell River and Sterkspruit on the southern edge of the Drakensberg , south of Lesotho . Several tributaries feed the Kraai River along its length of 250 km. In numerous meanders, it flows mainly deeply dug into the landscape westwards to Aliwal North , where it flows northeast of the city into the Orange River. The river bed, like most of the tributaries in its lower reaches, consists almost entirely of sandstone , which otherwise only occurs under the harder basalt and other volcanic rocks .
Catchment area
It extends to an altitude of over 3000 m up to the basalt rocks of the watershed that form the border between South Africa, Lesotho and the area around Herschel of the former Republic of Transkei . The upper part of the catchment area of the Kraai River lies between the headwaters of the two watercourses that form the Kraai River at its origin, and Moshesh's Ford, named after Moshoeshoe I. These two headwaters have particularly numerous tributaries. The catchment area of the middle reaches from Moshesh's Ford to the tributary of the Karringmelkspruit . Smaller tributaries in the middle reaches are Joggemspruit , Langkloofspruit , Diepspruit , Klein Wildebeestspruit and Saalboomspruit . Tributaries on the lower reaches are called Karringmelkspruit (often also referred to as Karnmelkspruit ), Bossieslaagtespruit and Elandspruit .
Places on the Kraai River
In the area of the middle reaches the town of Barkly East about 6 km south. The town of Lady Gray is located about 22 km northeast of the mouth of the Karnmelkspruit . Aliwal North is right next to the mouth of the Kraai River in the Oranje .