The high valleys of the Orange River’s headwaters are uninhabited, though the adjacent plateaus are used by the southern Sotho (Basuto) people for grazing land. Between the Lesotho border and the town of Maletswai, corn (maize) is cultivated, and this region is also used as pasturage for cattle and sheep. The dry shrub country farther downstream is in general suitable only for grazing. Irrigated sections, however, occur along the river’s course; the largest such area is between Upington and the Augrabies Falls, downstream of the Boegoeberg Dam (located midway between Prieska and Upington), where cotton, alfalfa (lucerne), grapes, and dates are grown. While scattered farms stand within reach of the river’s freshwater supply, there are no large towns along the riverbank. This situation remains little changed by the Orange River Project (see below): much of the water accumulated by its dams is diverted to the valleys of the Fish and Sundays rivers and to the cities of Gqeberha (formerly Port Elizabeth), Bloemfontein, and Kimberley.
Transportation
Navigation is impossible throughout the river’s course because of its irregular flow, its constant interruption by falls and rapids, and the silting that occurs in its channels and at the river mouth. Many bridges cross the river along its course between Maletswai and Oranjemund, the largest being at Upington.
Irrigation
Large irrigation and hydroelectric projects have been hampered on much of the Orange by the enormous amount of waterborne silt that clogs up reservoirs and reduces storage capacity. Efforts to combat this problem have included adding sluice gates to the Boegoeberg Dam (completed in 1931), which allow much of the silt to pass through.
In order to obtain comprehensive control of the river, the Orange River Project was located farther upstream, between the Caledon and Vaal confluences. The plan consists of a number of dam and canal projects; work began in 1962. The completed projects include the Gariep Dam (1972), which has formed the Gariep Reservoir; the Van der Kloof (formerly P.K. le Roux) Dam (1977), about 90 miles downstream from the Gariep Dam; a tunnel some 50 miles long (1975), which carries water from the Gariep Dam to the Great Fish River; and an irrigation canal between the Great Fish and Sundays rivers. Projects still under construction in the 1990s included the Van der Kloof irrigation canals below the Van der Kloof Dam.
The two dams have also been equipped to deal with heavy silt accumulation. They have deep dead-storage areas, and their high walls can be raised if necessary to allow for a higher water level. The Gariep Dam is the major water-conservation structure of the project. Its main function is to store sufficient water in its reservoir for further distribution via the Van der Kloof Dam or the Orange–Great Fish tunnel. The maximum height of the dam is 254 feet above the riverbed, it is 3,110 feet long along its crest, and the Gariep Reservoir has a maximum surface area of about 140 square miles. The Van der Kloof Dam has a maximum height of 351 feet, it is 2,510 feet long along its crest, and the reservoir has a maximum surface area of 54 square miles. Both dams have hydroelectric power stations, and their reservoirs provide water-recreation facilities.
Measures to increase the capacity of the Vaal River have also been undertaken. Water has been obtained via the Tugela-Vaal Water Project. More water will be supplied to the Vaal by the Lesotho Highland Project, which, when complete, will consist of several dams and storage reservoirs in the basins of the Sinqu, Malibamatso, and Senqunyane rivers.
Study and exploration
The first white man known to cross the river to the north bank was an Afrikaner elephant hunter, Jacobus Coetsee, who forded the Groot River, as it was then called, near the river mouth in 1760. Later expeditions across the river in the 18th century were led by the Afrikaner explorer Hendrik Hop; Robert Jacob Gordon, a Dutch officer; William Paterson, an English traveler; and the French explorer François Le Vaillant. They explored the river from its middle course to its mouth, and Gordon named it in honour of the Dutch house of Orange. Mission stations were established north of the Orange from the late 18th century. In 1813 John Campbell of the London Missionary Society traced the Harts River and from its junction with the Vaal followed the latter stream to its confluence with the Orange, which he explored as far as the Augrabies Falls. The source of the Orange was first reached by the French Protestant missionaries Thomas Arbousset and François Daumas in 1836.
Throughout the 19th century, the Orange River marked the northern limit of British power in southern Africa. Beginning in the 1830s, the Boers crossed it in search of land and freedom from British rule; they named their first republic—the Orange Free State—for the river.
John H. Wellington Phillip S. Hattingh Johann Cooks