Korrie, the end of summer is the best in terms of clarity (if the rainy season is not to bad), if we have a very wet season, the end of summer could be the worst.... The mid to late winter/early summer dirty water is due to increased flows from a dirty Ghariep dam (the Lesotho snow melt, coupled with the increased need for electricity causes this), As for the viz further upstream, it definitely gets worse, it is actually quite muddy at the inlet. Some of the inlets can be spectacular though, but only at certain times of the year.
As for safety on the dam, the "big water" is certainly not the safest place, if the wind picks up, which it regularly does, its a much worse place than sterkies (purely due to the long distance the water has to pick up steam and the long distance you would need to travel to get back home). I've seen 1.5 to 2 meter high waves on there in the past. Its also very easy to get lost once you go through the neck into the open water, there are often guys that the police need to go and search for in that area.
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