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Klip River Country Estate - Vaal River

The river that is pronounced "vah-all" is the largest tributary of the Orange River in South Africa. The Vaal river has its source in the Drakensberg mountains in Mpumalanga, east of Johannesburg and about 30km north of Ermelo and only about 240km from the Indian Ocean. It then flows westwards to its conjunction with the Orange River southwest of Kimberley, South Africa in the Northern Cape. It is 1,120 km in length, and forms the border between Mpumalanga, Gauteng  and North West Province on its north bank, and the Free State on its south. Water is drawn from the Vaal to meet the industrial needs of the Greater Johannesburg Metropolitan Area and a large part of the Free State Province. As a part of the Vaal-Hartz Scheme it is a major source of water for irrigation. Water drawn from the Vaal supports 12 million consumers in Gauteng and surrounding areas.

Historically, the Vaal river formed the northern border of Moshoeshoe I's Basotho kingdom at its height, then became the boundary between two Boer republics, and later provinces, Transvaal  and the Orange Free State. The geographic name Transvaal  comes from the name of this river, meaning "Beyond the Vaal river". This was in respect to the Cape Colony and Natal, which were the main areas of European settlement at the time, and lay south of the Vaal.

The Vaal Dam

The Vaal Dam in South Africa was constructed in 1938 and lies 77km south of OR Tambo International Airport Tambot. The lake behind the dam wall has a surface area of about 320 square kilometres (120 sq mi) and is 47 meters deep. The Vaal Dam lies on the Vaal River, which is one of South Africa's strongest-flowing rivers. It has over 800 kilometres (500 mi) of shoreline and is South Africa's second biggest dam by area and the third largest by volume.