Kei Mouth

The Great Kei River reaches the Indian Ocean through an estuary on the southeastern African coast. Its waters descend from the interior between the lands of Xhosa-speaking communities. During the eighteenth century, rival branches of the Xhosa ruling lineage came to be centred on opposite sides of the Kei: the Gcaleka to the east and the Ngqika between the Kei and the Fish River to the west.