Tuesday, March 30, 2010

The Mulder's Drift - Maree


"The Mulder's Drift" - ink sketch and watercolour in Moleskine sketch-book

The area of Tarlton is surrounded by a plethora of streams and little rivers, many originating as storm water flow offs from Randfontein, Krugersdorp and Roodepoort or from springs emerging in various vleis (swamp lands) situated all over the Witwatersrand. This little stream, known as the Mulder's Drift, originates somewhere in Strubensvalley, and flows through the sleepy village of Muldersdrift on its way to join the Crocodile River, eventually ending up at Hartebeespoort Dam, from where the overflow joins South Africa's biggest River, the Orange River, which passes the southern edge of the Kalahari Desert and winds through the Namib Desert before draining into the Atlantic Ocean at Alexander Bay, South Africa.

Below you can see where this humble little stream ends up!


The Orange River mouth and wetland on the coast of Namibia. At the mouth of the river are rich alluvial diamond beds. A sandbar at its mouth limits navigation, but the river is used extensively for irrigation.

9 comments:

  1. Wow!!! fascinating blog i could say... i really enjoyed the photos and sketches!!!:)

    Good day!!!:)

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  2. I really must begin sketching much more than I ever do thanks for the inspiration.

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  3. Glad to be of inspiration Ralph and thanks for stopping by!

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  4. Lovely little stream with such a grand role in the scheme of life. Thanks for the whole story.

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  5. It's a pleasure Sandy! And I think each of our lives is somewhat like that - we might feel small and insignificant, but in the grand scheme of things we are all important to somebody!

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  6. What a mystical and romantic name for a stream! Thank you for the description of its meanderings, I have such a bigger picture in my head, now. I like the way you've drawn the two trees, they're like sentinels at guard.

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