Gauteng Tourist AttractionsVaal Dam
Where? The Vaal Dam is located on the Vaal River +/- 56km south of Johannesburg, close to Vereeniging.
How? Call +27 (0)16 372-1189
Overnight? Stay in Vereeniging, in Gauteng
There are not many dams that can claim to be as big as Luxembourg, yet the Vaal Dam, which is also the country's largest dam by area – the Gariep Dam has the largest storage capacity – does just that. Suffice to say that Vaal Dam is big.
Vaal Dam has over 800 kilometers worth of coastline and covers over 300km. Also one of Gauteng's major sources of drinking water, it lies on the Vaal River close to Vereeniging, midway between the N1 and the N3, and roughly 110km from Johannesburg.
The Vaal Dam is also bounded by three provinces – the Free State, which has the largest coastline, Mpumalanga, and Gauteng, which has the most active coastline.
On its banks lie the little towns of Deneysville, Oranjeville, Vaal Marina, Villiers and Frankfort, but possibly the most interesting entity connected with the Vaal Dam is its island, used during Apartheid for secret meetings.
The Vaaldam is a playground for all forms of water sports and events – every year there is the Round the Island yacht race, the Keelboat Week, the Bayshore 200 kilometre jetski race and the Bayshore Marina Vaal Dam treasure hunt – and there are apparently more keelboats on the dam than at all of our coastal harbours. There are 10 sailing clubs and any number of fishermen, waterskiiers and canoeists also head out to the dam over weekends.
Property along the banks of the dam and river is highly sought after. Tranquillity and peacefulness so close to a major city are an enormous draw card, and as our cities become more and more congested, so man seeks water as a means to escape.
