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The Gourits estuary
(34°21' S;
22°33' E)
lies southwest of the coastal town of Mossel Bay in the Western Cape. The river is approximately 416 km long with a catchment area of 45 715 sq. km. About 5% of the land-cover in the Gourits catchment was agriculture, comprising mainly temporary commercial dryland agriculture, temporary commercial irrigated agriculture, improved grassland, permanent commercial irrigated agriculture and some commercial forestry. Approximately 1% of the catchment comprised degraded shrubland while roughly 94% was natural, consisting mostly of shrubland and bushland. Very little of the catchment (less than 1%) was urban and this consisted mainly of residential development and some smallholdings. Major towns in the Gourits catchment include Albertina in the lower catchment, Oudtshoorn, Calitzdorp, Ladismith and Laingsburg in the middle of the catchment and Beaufort West and Touwsrivier in the upper catchment.
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