River
Great Kei River
520 km from source to mouth · South Africa.
South AfricaFlows into Indian Ocean8th longest in South Africa
In numbers
Length
520km
Average flow
67m³/s
Basin
20,566km²
Drop
1,201m
from 1,201 m to 0 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
520 km of river and 5 stops on the way: 1 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 1,201 m
- 19 kmCathcart8,818 people
- 81 kmWit-Kei Rivertributary
- 81 kmBlack Kei Rivertributary
- 183 kmTsomo Rivertributary
- 201 kmKubusi Rivertributary
- 294 kmIndian Oceanat 0 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in South Africa
At the mouth it carries 67 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 37 seconds. It drops from 1,201 m to 0 m, 2.3 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 20,566 km², about the size of IL. 756,000 people live in it. Highest water: from February to March and December; lowest: from June to August. Dams and reservoirs hold back a large share of its water (25% of a year's flow).
Where to start
- CathcartLargest city on its banks · 8,818 people
- King Phalo Airport (ELS)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 104 km from the cityCar hire at ELS airport (East London)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water2 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From May to SeptemberThe best months to visit
Great Kei River, month by month
Highest water: from February to March and December
Lowest water: from June to August. Best months to visit: from May to September.
From about 29 m³/s in the lowest month to 130 m³/s in the highest. An estimate: the monthly flow is modelled from the lowest and highest months of WaterGAP (RiverATLAS, 1971–2000) and the rain and snow along the river (WorldClim). Dams change the real rhythm. The chip is the average air temperature; below it, the month's rain.
Plan the trip
Plan the trip: boat trips, a bed by the river, a car
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
The basin
Great Kei River: the basin in numbers
20,521 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 756,000people live in the basin
- 37/km²people per km²
- 1,149maverage altitude of the basin
- 653mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 15.4°Caverage air temperature
- 1%protected areas
- 0.3%covered by lakes
- 0.5km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 36% Forest
- 12% Cropland
- 72% Pasture
- 1% Towns and cities
RiverATLAS (HydroATLAS v1.0, CC BY 4.0): land cover, people, protected areas, glaciers and dams over the whole basin upstream of the mouth.
Along the river
Great Kei River: what you find on the way
- 2Weirs
- 1Waterfalls
- 2Ferry piersPont
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.0 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Great Kei River in our other atlases
What our sister atlases know about the waterfalls on this river, the lakes it flows through, the beaches at its mouth, the mountains where it rises and the islands off its mouth.
1beach at the mouth or on the banksCoastya
5mountains at the sourcePeakyas
Beaches (1)
At the mouth (25 km) and on the banks, by Coastya
- Bosbokstrand24 km away24.9°C
Mountains at the source (5)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Kwa Mjuza15 km away
- Kwa Luxomo14 km away
- Kwa Gajaza15 km away
- Roundhill11 km away
- Ngxwashu10 km away
From space
The source and the mouth, seen from orbit
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX IT Services GmbH (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2016), CC BY 4.0. The glowing line is the river as drawn by RiverATLAS.
Photos
Great Kei River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
Tributaries (5)
Also: Black Kei River, Wit-Kei River, Tsomo River, Kubusi River, Thomas River
Nearby
Rivers nearby
South Africa644 km26 m³/s147 km awayCaledon RiverSouth Africa480 km160 m³/s325 km awaySenqunyane River
Lesotho200 km15 m³/s294 km awayMakhaleng RiverLesotho113 km5.9 m³/s304 km awayGamtoos RiverSouth Africa645 km19 m³/s343 km awayMalibamat'so RiverLesotho140 km36 m³/s348 km awayTugela RiverSouth Africa520 km170 m³/s485 km awayWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q1413605) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Course, profile, basin | RiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed from the source to the mouth given by Wikidata |
| Flow | WaterGAP (RiverATLAS), 1971–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate along the river | WorldClim (RiverATLAS), 1970–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Towns, bridges, dams | Wikidata · CC0; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0 |
| Along the river | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Our other atlases | Coastya, Peakyas — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0; HydroLAKES · CC BY 4.0; NOAA OISST |
Every source and licence is on the data sources page.
The family
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?
Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.
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Every summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit 
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islands
Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Coming soonVisit 
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Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.You are here
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Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit