Eye of Kuruman

Coordinates: 27°27′48.6″S 23°26′10.68″E / 27.463500°S 23.4363000°E / -27.463500; 23.4363000
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Eye of Kuruman
The Eye of Kuruman
Eye of Kuruman is located in South Africa
Eye of Kuruman
Eye of Kuruman
LocationKuruman, Northern Cape
Coordinates27°27′48.6″S 23°26′10.68″E / 27.463500°S 23.4363000°E / -27.463500; 23.4363000
TypeNatural spring
Basin countries South Africa
Map

The Eye of Kuruman (

natural spring in the Southern Hemisphere;[1] although the Te Waikoropupū Springs in Golden Bay, New Zealand has been reliably measured at an average flow some 60 times greater (14 m3/s (220,000 US gal/min)).[citation needed
]

The spring forms a small lake in the middle of the town, directly on the

potable water. Water from the spring supplies the town of Kuruman
.

History

The town of Kuruman is located on the border of South Africa’s Northern Cape and North West provinces. The year 1895 was the only time in recorded history where the stream was constant throughout and moved from The Eye, down the stream Kuruman river, Molopo River, Orange River and finally into the Atlantic Ocean. Originally, Tswana herders used the large spring as a water hole. The Tswana name for The Eye is Segonyana which means "small calabash".[2]

In 1885, the British classified the area as part of the

Crown Colony of British Bechuanaland. This classification of land prohibited the Tswana people from using the stream for any purpose. The upper Kuruman valley became a crown reserve and The Eye of Kuruman became the town site. Access to the valley became segregated by race in the twentieth century under the Union government. A modern irrigation project was operated by the municipality of Kuruman after 1918 and, in 1919 black cultivators were evicted from using water from The Eye. However, black people continued to use the stream and moved 5 miles down the stream to Seodin. The water at the Seodin area had a much weaker stream making irrigation difficult for the Tswana people. The government's Department of Native Affairs drilled bore holes to assist the black farmers in 1940 however, this was still insufficient to sustain cultivation. In 1962, Apartheid legislation led to the forced removal of black people from Seodin. The 'whites-only' irrigation project never commercialised despite state aid.[3]

In 1992, The Eye was declared a Provincial Heritage Site.[4]

Cave

The Eye of Kuruman cave forms part of the eight caves on the dolomitic Ghaap Plateau of the Northern Cape. The Eye of Kuruman cave from which the springs emerge has been documented form as early as the nineteenth century. The first sketch of the cave was made in 1907 measuring a total of 138 meters.

Description of Cave

The dolomite cave has a series of cracks where streams of water flow. The streams of water travel through various passages and emerge together at the base of a cliff described as Die Oog in Afrikaans which translates as 'The Eye'.

Biodiversity

Both the air and water temperature of the cave is about 21 °C (70 °F) with a relative humidity of about 99% The

Rhinolophus clivosus) were recorded in the Eye of Kuruman cave in 1985. Due to high levels of humidity
as well as consistent human disturbance, very few bats are now found in the cave.

Aquatic animals that are found in the cave include:

Cixiidae survive by sucking the sap of plant roots that penetrate into the cave. There are also unidentified small flies (Diptera) in the cave.[5]

See also

References

  1. ISBN 9781868723881
    .
  2. ^ Joahn Taolo Gaetsewe District Profile
  3. S2CID 162353701
    .
  4. ^ "9/2/055/0004 | SAHRA". sahris.sahra.org.za. Retrieved 2023-09-10.
  5. hdl:10520/AJA00679208_1439
    .

External links

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