Buffels River (Groot River)

Groot River
River
Train approaching Laingsburg crossing the bridge over the Buffels River, the upper section of the Groot River
Name origin: From Grootrivier, meaning "big river" in the Afrikaans language
Country	South Africa
State	Western Cape
Source	Komsberg
- location	Great Karoo, Northern Cape
- elevation	1,200 m (3,937 ft)
- coordinates	32°46′S 20°39′E / 32.767°S 20.650°E / -32.767; 20.650
Mouth	Gourits River
- elevation	82 m (269 ft)
- coordinates	33°53′18″S 21°39′22″E / 33.88833°S 21.65611°E / -33.88833; 21.65611Coordinates: 33°53′18″S 21°39′22″E / 33.88833°S 21.65611°E / -33.88833; 21.65611
Location of the Groot River mouth

The Groot River is a river in the southern area of the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is a right hand tributary of the Gourits River.

The Groot River rises in the Komsberg Escarpment of the Great Karoo, about 40 km south of Sutherland in the Northern Cape Province, and is known as the Komsberg in its upper course. Flowing southeastwards it becomes the Buffels River. It then bends southwards through Laingsburg and flows first southeast, then south into the Floriskraal Dam, and then southwest, before it flows southwards again and cuts across the Klein Swartberg Mountains through the Buffelspoort, a deep gorge, into the Little Karoo.

The river eventually becomes the Groot River at the point where the Buffels and the Klein-Swartberg River meet, about 50 km before its confluence with the Touws River, and then it flows eastwards, past Van Wyksdorp, towards its confluence with the Gourits River.

Its main tributary is the Touws River that rises in the Hex River Mountains, and flows eastwards through the town of the same name and south into the Little Karoo, where it joins the Groot River's right bank.