Kuilsriver Crusade

The Kuilsriver (Laziest of the mighty Cape water features)

Possibly one of South Africa’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.
It’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 in a vacant marshland between Kayalitsha and Macassar, 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 story:





The Playground


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 Patterson’s Curse.


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.


Test your bike’s ground clearance without damaging the bash plate or frame.


Except for the Poplars and Weeping Willows there is one other invasive tree; Port Jackson. The ones along the Kuilsriver are slowly dyeing 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 help.


We cotchar mud an everthin’…


Poplar forest


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


Another crossing near the highway. I think there is a small amount of raw sewage in the water…best not to fall in it…


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