Ntabelanga Dam Catchment Field Research – May 2015
By Danuta Hodgson
A group of Rhodes Geography masters students embarked on a field trip to the Tsitsa Catchment in
the northern Eastern Cape to conduct a few field surveys. This catchment hosts the last uncontrolled
major river in South Africa and the population within the Tsitsa catchment is of the poorest in South
Africa and face many development problems. The proposed Ntabelanga dam will be situated
approximately 25 km east of the town of Maclear.
Nicholaus Huchzermeyer is conducting research to establish the current geomorphic baseline of the
Tsitsa River on which the Ntabelanga dam will be built and the impact that the sediments has on the
ecological habitats in the river. We visited his proposed sites that are mainly downstream of the dam
wall.
Laura Bannatyne is interested in the sources and the amount of the sediment that flows into the Tsitsa
River. We visited the tributaries that flow into the Tsitsa River in order to locate suitable sites where
she can conduct her research using various techniques and equipment.
Dr. Simon Pulley, who specialises in sediments joined us on our field excursion to advise us on our site
location and the various techniques that we could use in our research.
Danuta Hodgson is doing a demographic analysis of the catchment. While diving though the villages
she was able to get an overview of the various villages’ sizes and locations that she will be conducting
the analysis on.
Field observation along the Tsitsa River, where the dam will be built. (photo: Danuta Hodgson)
The village of Singaxo, Eastern Cape. (photo: Danuta Hodgson)
The Team (From the left): Nicholaus Huchzermeyer, Danuta Hodgson, Laura Bannatyne, Dr. Simon
Pulley