Gariep dam, Free State province

Gariep Dam is located on the Orange River between the Eastern Cape to the south and the Free State to the north and about 30 kilometers north east of Colesberg.

At 88 meters high and with a crest length of 914 meters, made of 1.73 million cubic meters of concrete, Gariep Dam is the largest storage reservoir in South Africa.

It has a total storage capacity of approximately 5,340,000 megalitres and a surface area of more than 370 square kilometres when full. Its four 90 MW generators, produce a maximum output of 360 MW of electricity at a water flow rate of 800 cubic meters per second.

PHOTO SOURCE: Friedrich von Horsten, courtesy of, and copyright, South Africa Tourism, a department of the government of South Africa, used with permission.

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