Everything about Limpopo River totally explained
The
Limpopo River rises in central southern
Africa, and flows generally eastwards to the
Indian Ocean. It is around long, with a
drainage basin in size. Its mean annual
discharge is 174.288
m³/s (6,155
cu ft/s) at its mouth. The Limpopo is the second largest
river in Africa that drains to the Indian Ocean, after the
Zambezi River.
Course
The Limpopo river flows in a great arc, first zigzagging north and then northeast, then turning east and finally southeast. Then it serves as a border for about, separating
South Africa to the southeast from
Botswana to the northwest and
Zimbabwe to the north. There are several
rapids as the river falls off Southern Africa's inland
escarpment.
The Limpopo's main tributary is the
Olifants River (Elephant River). Other major tributaries include the
Shashe River,
Mzingwane River and
Mwenezi River.
The port town of
Xai-xai,
Mozambique is on the river near the mouth. Below the Olifants, the river is permanently
navigable to the sea, though a
sandbar prevents access by large ships, except at high tide.
At the north-eastern corner of South Africa the river borders
Kruger National Park. Tributaries such as the Oliphants River flow through the park.
Basin characteristics
The waters of the Limpopo are sluggish and silty.
Rainfall is seasonal and unreliable. In dry years, the upper parts of the river flow for 40 days or less. The upper part of the drainage basin is arid, in the
Kalahari Desert, but becomes less arid further down the river. The next reaches drain the
Waterberg massif, a
biome of semi-
deciduous forest and low density human population. The lower reaches are fertile and heavily populated. Floods after the rainy season are an occasional problem in the lower reaches, most notably the catastrophic
floods in February
2000, which was caused by heavy rainfall due to a cyclone.
The Limpopo basin is home to about 14 million people.
History
Vasco da Gama was probably the first European to sight the river, when his first expedition anchored off the mouth in
1498. However, there has been human habitation in the region since time immemorial - sites in the
Makapans Valley near
Mokopane contain
Australopithecus fossils from 3.5 million years ago.
The Limpopo was immortalized in the short story "The Elephant's Child" by British author
Rudyard Kipling, in the
Just So Stories, where it's described as "the great grey-green, greasy Limpopo River, all set about with
fever-trees," where the "Bi-Coloured Python Rock-Snake" dwells.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Limpopo River'.
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