Riversdale | |
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Clockwise from top: Approaching the town of Riversdale on the N2 highway, St Matthews Church, Old Tolhouse Garcia Pass, Versveld House, Riversdale Train Station. | |
Coordinates: 34°05′49″S21°15′44″E / 34.09694°S 21.26222°E | |
Country | South Africa |
Province | Western Cape |
District | Garden Route |
Municipality | Hessequa |
Established | 1838 [1] |
Government | |
• Councillor | Betsie van Noordwyk [2] (DA) |
Area | |
• Total | 100.45 km2 (38.78 sq mi) |
Elevation | 110 m (360 ft) |
Population (2011) [3] | |
• Total | 16,176 |
• Density | 160/km2 (420/sq mi) |
Racial makeup (2011) | |
• Black African | 8.9% |
• Coloured | 75.2% |
• Indian/Asian | 0.3% |
• White | 15.3% |
• Other | 0.3% |
First languages (2011) | |
• Afrikaans | 92.3% |
• Xhosa | 3.7% |
• English | 2.2% |
• Other | 1.8% |
Time zone | UTC+2 (SAST) |
Postal code (street) | 6670 |
PO box | 6670 |
Area code | 028 |
Riversdale (Afrikaans : Riversdal) is a town located along the N2 highway, within the Hessequa region between Cape Town and George on the Agulhas Coastal Plain of the southern Western Cape province of South Africa. It is an agricultural service oriented town, being a hub for shopping and other services for surrounding farming communities, smaller towns, and coastal resorts, like Witsand and Stilbaai. It is located beneath the imposing Langeberg Mountains to the north, with Sleeping Beauty Mountain Peak overlooking the town. The town is home to the second largest collection of Thomas Bowler paintings within South Africa and is also the only town in the country, in which you would find a Ukrainian Museum of Culture. Riversdale links with the Klein Karoo, via the tarred Garcia's Mountain Pass, which offers traditional Karoo landscapes and wide open spaces for motorcyclists.
The Old Jail dates back to the 1800s, and is one of the most visited tourist facilities in town. The Bali Trading Complex is arguably one of the most visited facilities along all of the N2.
The Riversdal Landbouskou (agricultural show) is a popular agricultural festival, taking place annually in February. Riversdale as a popular tourist town, has many coffee shops, restaurants, accommodation facilities and traveller experiences like wineries, horse riding and fishing at the Korentepoort Dam Resort.
The town was founded as a church on the farm, Doornkraal, and was subsequently named after Harry Rivers, the then incumbent Civil Commissioner of Swellendam. It was proclaimed a town on 30 August 1838. Riverdale is the seat of the Hessequa Local Municipality. It is also sometimes considered the westernmost point in the Garden Route region. [ citation needed ]
South Africa occupies the southern tip of Africa, its coastline stretching more than 2,850 kilometres from the desert border with Namibia on the Atlantic (western) coast southwards around the tip of Africa and then northeast to the border with Mozambique on the Indian (eastern) coast. The low-lying coastal zone is narrow for much of that distance, soon giving way to a mountainous escarpment that separates the coast from the high inland plateau. In some places, notably the province of KwaZulu-Natal in the east, a greater distance separates the coast from the escarpment. Although much of the country is classified as semi-arid, it has considerable variation in climate as well as topography. The total land area is 1,220,813 km2 (471,359 sq mi). It has the 23rd largest Exclusive Economic Zone of 1,535,538 km2 (592,875 sq mi).
Fynbos is a small belt of natural shrubland or heathland vegetation located in the Western Cape and Eastern Cape provinces of South Africa. This area is predominantly coastal and mountainous, with a Mediterranean climate and rainy winters. The fynbos ecoregion is within the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biome. In fields related to biogeography, fynbos is known for its exceptional degree of biodiversity and endemism, consisting of about 80% species of the Cape floral kingdom, where nearly 6,000 of them are endemic. This land continues to face severe human-caused threats, but due to the many economic uses of the fynbos, conservation efforts are being made to help restore it.
The Karoo is a semi-desert natural region of South Africa. No exact definition of what constitutes the Karoo is available, so its extent is also not precisely defined. The Karoo is partly defined by its topography, geology and climate, and above all, its low rainfall, arid air, cloudless skies, and extremes of heat and cold. The Karoo also hosted a well-preserved ecosystem hundreds of million years ago which is now represented by many fossils.
The Garden Route is a 300-kilometre (190 mi) stretch of the south-eastern coast of South Africa which extends from Witsand in the Western Cape to the border of Tsitsikamma Storms River in the Eastern Cape. The name comes from the verdant and ecologically diverse vegetation encountered here and the numerous estuaries and lakes dotted along the coast. It includes towns such as Witsand, Heidelberg, Riversdale, Stilbaai, Albertinia, Gouritsmond, Knysna, Plettenberg Bay, Mossel Bay, Oudtshoorn, Great Brak River, Little Brak River, Wilderness, Sedgefield and Nature's Valley; with George, the Garden Route's largest city and main administrative centre.
Langeberg Municipality, known before 28 August 2009 as Breede River/Winelands Municipality, is a local municipality located within the Cape Winelands District Municipality, in the Western Cape province of South Africa. As of 2011, it had a population of 97,724. Its municipality code is WC026.
Hessequa Municipality, known before 24 June 2005 as Langeberg Municipality, is a local municipality within the Garden Route District Municipality, in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is flanked by the lower Breede River to the west and the Gourits River to the east. As of 2011, the population was 52,642. Its municipality code is WC042. The name Hessequa, meaning "people of the trees", refers to the indigenous Khoikhoi people.
Swellendam Municipality is a local municipality located within the Overberg District Municipality, in the Western Cape province of South Africa. As of 2011, it had a population of 35,916. Its municipality code is WC034.
The following lists events that happened during 1853 in South Africa.
The Langeberg Range is a mountain range in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Its highest peak is Keeromsberg at 2,075 m that lies 15 km northeast of the town of Worcester. Some of the highest peaks of the range are located just to the north of Swellendam, in a subrange known as the Clock Peaks whose highest point is the 1,710 m high Misty Point. Local lore states one can tell the time by means of the shadows cast by the seven summits of the Clock Peaks.
The Garden Route District Municipality, formerly known as the Eden District Municipality, is a district municipality located in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Its municipality code is DC4.
The Western Cape province of South Africa is governed in a parliamentary system in which the people elect the Provincial Parliament, and the parliament elects the Premier as head of the executive. The Premier leads a cabinet of provincial ministers overseeing various executive departments. The provincial government is subject to the Constitution of the Western Cape and the Constitution of South Africa, which together form the supreme law of the province.
Jan Ernst Abraham Volschenk, was a South African painter, noted for his majestic landscapes of the Langeberg Range in the Western Cape Province.
The R62 is a provincial route in South Africa that connects Ashton with Humansdorp. The R62 runs through the Little Karoo and the Langkloof, passing through Montagu, Ladismith, Calitzdorp, Oudtshoorn, and Joubertina.
The wine regions of South Africa were defined under the "Wine of Origin" act of 1973. Mirroring the French Appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC) system, all South African wines listing a "Wine of Origin" must be composed entirely of grapes from its region. The "Wine of Origins" (WO) program mandates how wine regions of South Africa are defined and can appear on wine labels. While some aspects of the WO are taken from the AOC, the WO is primarily concerned with accuracy in labeling. As a result, the WO does not place adjunct regulations on wine regions such as delineating permitted varieties, trellising methods, irrigation techniques, and crop yields.
Thomas Charles John Bain was a South African road engineer. As a prolific road building pioneer, Bain was responsible for the planning and construction of more than 900 km of roads and mountain passes, many of them still in use today, over a career spanning from 1848 until 1888. These passes through the mountain ranges between the thin coastal plain and the interior of the former Cape Colony in South Africa, played a major role in opening up the vast hinterland of South Africa.
The Enon Formation is a geological formation found in the Eastern and Western Cape provinces in South Africa. It is the lowermost of the four formations found within the Uitenhage Group of the Algoa Basin, its type locality, where it has been measured at a maximum thickness of 480 metres (1,570 ft). Discontinuous outcrops are also found in the Worcester-Pletmos and Oudshoorn-Gamtoos Basins, including isolated occurrences in the Haasvlakte, Jubilee, and Soutpansvlakte Basins near the small town Bredasdorp.
Albertinia is a settlement in the Hessequa Municipality in the Western Cape province of South Africa.
Gouritsmond is a small South African tourist town in the municipality of Hessequa, Garden Route District, Western Cape Province. It is situated about 36 road kilometres south-east of Albertinia. Gouritsmond is located just on the west side of the Gouritz River estuary and on the Indian Ocean. In 2011, Gouritsmond had 515 inhabitants in 206 households.
The Gouritz Cluster Biosphere Reserve is located in the Western Cape of South Africa. It is the 7th and largest of South Africa’s biosphere reserves; divided into four connected sectors ranging from sea level to 2,240 metres. The area is the only place in the world where three recognised biodiversity hotspots converge. The site is characterised by high endemism of plant species and threatened invertebrates including seven endemic species of the enigmatic beetle genus Colophon and 14 butterfly species. It provides a migratory route for large mammals such as the leopard and serves as a nursery for marine species.
The Garcia's Pass is a mountain pass across the Langeberg in the Western Cape province of South Africa, with its highest point at 548 m (1,798 ft) altitude. The regional road numbered R323 uses this pass on its leg between Riversdale in the south and Ladismith in the Little Karoo to the north. From Riversdale, the road winds to the Garcia Pass across the Langeberg to Muiskraal in the northern foothills. The maximum slope is 1:14 on the southern descend.