Exploring the Kuilsriver (Laziest of the Cape's mighty water features)

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LuckyStriker

Bachelor Dog
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Possibly one of South Africaâ??s least impressive water arteries.

At just over 30km in length, its origin is in the hills of Durbanville. Not in the splendid vineyards but at the base of a refuse site near the sports grounds. It flows almost directly south, past my neighbourhood, down and down towards the ocean but never quite reaching it.
Itâ??s not a wide river, indeed, where it flows past my area it is only about 2 metres across. I am told much of it runs underground at this point. But on the outskirts of the town of Kuilsriver (soon to be swallowed up by the greater Cape Metropole) the river is violently expelled from the earth and it forms a stream in places over 20metres wide!

And as it passes under Stellenbosch Road, it suddenly and mysteriously dwindles back into a metre-wide sliver as it curves through the flat terrain of Blue Downs.
The unmighty Kuilsriver unceremoniously terminates near the N2 highway in a vacant marshland between Kayalitsha and Macassar, possibly slurped up by the rancid Eerste River.

But even such crude geological features as the Kuilsriver has something wonderful to offer. I decided to examine a tiny part of it, 2km of it to be exact. This is my testimony:

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The Playground - assembled from Google Earth screenshots

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The elevated R300 interchange and the N1 highway
The fields are covered by purple flowers. An invasive Australian species called Salvation Sally. Over here it is better known as Pattersonâ??s Curse.

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There are some single spoor trails but mostly you have to ride through grass lands and force your way through thickets and a small Poplar Forest.

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Close to this picture I made an interesting discovery. After riding along a particularly nasty single-spoor track, I happened on a Bergie community.
Hidden amongst trees they were. Around 10 or 15 people in various stages of bewilderment. Two children slowly ducked down into the tall grass like lions stalking deer. The women stared at me with vacant expressions while two men slowly creeped closer to me. One of the men raised his arms and moaned, the other gurgled some guttural command and they hobbled closer to me, slowly picking up speed.
It looked like a scene from Dawn of the Dead and I quickly brought the DR round and charged out of there.
They were probably harmless folk who wanted to beg for alms but I was tempted to believe they were Zombies and I the last survivor in a post-apocalyptic waste!

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Test your bikeâ??s ground clearance without damaging the bash plate or frame.

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Except for the Poplars and Weeping Willows there is one other invasive tree; Port Jackson. The ones along the Kuilsriver are slowly dying thanks to Genetic Engineering. All of them are infected by a particularly nasty fungus that distort and cripple the plants. Wood seem melted and branches thin and fragile. The fungus was created in a lab and attack only Port Jackson. The infection has limited ability and cannot travel far without human assistance.

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We gotchar mud an everthinâ??â?¦

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Poplar forest

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A wee crossing
The riverbed is shallow but the water smells funky.

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Another crossing near the highway. I suspect there may be a small amount of raw sewage in the waterâ?¦best not to fall in itâ?¦and if you do, keep your mouth closed

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The Tunnel of Terror!
You can ride down it to the other side of the N1

Thanks, that's it
O0
 
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