Gamtoos River formed by the Kouga and the Groot is situated in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

 and is approximately 645 km long with a catchment area of 34,635 km². The name Gamtoos is probably derived from a Khoikhoi

Khoikhoi

The Khoikhoi or Khoi, in standardised Khoekhoe/Nama orthography spelled Khoekhoe, are a historical division of the Khoisan ethnic group, the native people of southwestern Africa, closely related to the Bushmen . They had lived in southern Africa since the 5th century AD...

 clan whose name was given by early Dutch

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 settlers as "Gamtousch".

Although the rainfall in the catchment area is low, it supports a commercial irrigated agriculture in the lower catchment in which oranges

Orange (fruit)

An orange—specifically, the sweet orange—is the citrus Citrus × sinensis and its fruit. It is the most commonly grown tree fruit in the world....

, tobacco

Tobacco

Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...

, citrus

Citrus

Citrus is a common term and genus of flowering plants in the rue family, Rutaceae. Citrus is believed to have originated in the part of Southeast Asia bordered by Northeastern India, Myanmar and the Yunnan province of China...

 fruit

Fruit

In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...

 and vegetable

Vegetable

The noun vegetable usually means an edible plant or part of a plant other than a sweet fruit or seed. This typically means the leaf, stem, or root of a plant....

s are grown. Where the Gamtoos river enters the Indian Ocean

Indian Ocean

The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...

 between Jeffreys Bay

Jeffreys Bay

Jeffreys Bay is a town located in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. The town is situated just off the N2 Highway, about an hour's drive southwest of Port Elizabeth.- History :...

 and Port Elizabeth, there is the Gamtoos River Mouth Nature Reserve. The towns of Hankey

Hankey

Hankey is a small town on the confluence of the Klein and Gamtoos rivers in South Africa. It is part of the Kouga Local Municipality of the Cacadu District in the Eastern Cape.- History :...

, the oldest town situated in the Gamtoos river valley, and Patensie are situated in the lower catchment. Further inland are the towns of Steytlerville, Joubertina

Joubertina

Joubertina is a small town in the Cacadu District Municipality of the Eastern Cape province of South Africa.Joubertina is located on the R62 road in the Langkloof valley.The town has a station on the narrow gauge avontuur railway.-External links:*...

, Uniondale, Willowmore and Murraysburg.

Tributaries include: the Loerie River, Klein River, Hol River, Kouga River

Kouga River

Kouga River originates near Haarlem, Western Cape, South Africa, and flows eastward, where it joins the Gamtoos River just past the Kouga Dam. Tributaries include the Baviaanskloof River and the Nabooms River.- Also see :* List of rivers of South Africa...

 and the Groot River

Groot River (Eastern Cape)

The Groot River is a river in the Eastern Cape and Western Cape provinces of South Africa.The Touws River tributary rises in the Matroosberg Mountains and flows east through the town of the same name and south into the Little Karoo, where it joins the Groot River...

 — in fact these last two form the Gamtoos.
Saartjie Baartman

Saartjie Baartman

Sarah "Saartjie" Baartman was the most famous of at least two Khoikhoi women who were exhibited as freak show attractions in 19th century Europe under the name Hottentot Venus—"Hottentot" as the then-current name for the Khoi people, now considered an offensive term, and "Venus" in reference to...

 - the "Hottentot Venus" - was born around 1789 in the vicinity of the Gamtoos river.

Two bridges cross the Gamtoos close to its mouth in the Kouga

Kouga Local Municipality

The Kouga Local Municipality is located in the Eastern Cape of South Africa, approximately 20 km west of Port Elizabeth, and forms part of the Cacadu District Municipality...

. The original 600 feet (182.9 m) bridge on the R102 was opened in 1895 in order to replace the ferry that had been in use up to that time. A modern concrete bridge was built during the construction of the N2 in the early 1970s.

In 1877 during a severe drought

Drought

A drought is an extended period of months or years when a region notes a deficiency in its water supply. Generally, this occurs when a region receives consistently below average precipitation. It can have a substantial impact on the ecosystem and agriculture of the affected region...

in the region, the Gamtoos River dried up completely. During the floods of October 1867, the level of water in some parts of the river rose by up to 70 feet (21.3 m).