Mokolo River

The Mokolo River is a major watercourse in Limpopo Province of South Africa. The river's catchment area comprises 8387 square kilometers.^[1] This river collects much of the drainage of the Waterberg Massif and discharges it to the Limpopo River. It threads through the Waterberg Massif, which is a biosphere that contains considerable biodiversity, including numerous large mammals such as giraffes, white rhinos, blue wildebeests. Waterberg is the first region in the northern part of South Africa to be named as a biosphere reserve by UNESCO. The extensive rock formation was shaped by hundreds of millions of years of river erosion to yield diverse bluffs and buttes.^[2]

Approximately 87 percent of the river's water beneficial uses is for agriculture. Some wetlands rehabilitation in the upper Mokolo has been carried out and that effort has been deemed a success.^[3]

The Mokolo River and its tributaries rise in the western part of the Waterberg (between 1200 and 1600 metres above mean sea level). It originates in a flattish, open area with numerous koppies and flows through a steep gorge emerging above the town of Vaalwater. Here the river flows through a relatively flat area until it enters the Mokolo Dam. From there, it flows through another gorge before entering the Limpopo Plain, near the junction with the Rietspruit. From this point, the Mokolo River flows through flat sandy areas until it reaches the Limpopo River.

See also

• Bushveld

References

1. ^ Mokolo River Data
2. ^ C.Michael Hogan, Mark L. Cooke and Helen Murray, The Waterberg Biosphere, Lumina Technologies, May 22, 2006.
3. ^ Wetlands restoration projects of the Limpopo Basin and other South African watersheds

Coordinates: 23°13′59″S 27°43′01″E / 23.233°S 27.717°E / -23.233; 27.717