Mokolo River Explained

Mokolo River
Name Etymology:Meaning "deep and silent" or "large flow" in the Tswana language.[1]
Pushpin Map:South Africa
Pushpin Map Caption:Location of the Mokolo River mouth
Subdivision Type1:Country
Subdivision Name1:South Africa
Subdivision Type2:State
Subdivision Name2:Limpopo Province
Source1:Waterberg Massif
Source Confluence:Confluence of the Sand River with the Grootspruit River
Source Confluence Location:Near Alma
Source Confluence Coordinates:-24.4656°N 28.0631°W
Source Confluence Elevation:1202m (3,944feet)
Mouth Location:Limpopo River, South Africa/Botswana border
Mouth Coordinates:-23.2319°N 27.7194°W
Mouth Elevation:799m (2,621feet)
Basin Size:8387km2
Extra:Major rivers and streams within the Limpopo River Basin

The Mokolo River is a major watercourse in Limpopo Province of South Africa. This river collects much of the drainage of the Waterberg Massif and discharges it to the Limpopo River. The river's catchment area comprises 8387km2.[2]

Course

The Mokolo River and its upper course tributaries rise in the southwestern part of the Waterberg, between 1200 and 1600 metres above mean sea level. The Mokolo proper originates about 1.5 km north of Alma at the confluence of the Sand River with the Grootspruit River in a flattish, open area with numerous koppies. Shortly thereafter it flows northwards through a steep gorge emerging above the town of Vaalwater.[3]

As it heads northwards it threads through the northern Waterberg, an extensive rock formation that was shaped by hundreds of millions of years of river erosion to yield diverse bluffs and buttes.[4]

Then the river flows through the relatively flat area of the lowveld 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's right bank.

Tributaries and dams

The most important tributaries of the Mokolo are: Sand River (whose uppermost section is named 'Little Nyl'), Klein Sand River, Sandspruit, Sondagsloop, Loubadspruit, Grootspruit, Sterkstroom, Brakspruit, Malmanies, Bulspruit, Rietspruit, Sandloop, Poer se Loop and the Tambotie River.

The Mokolo Dam is the only large dam in the system.[5]

Ecology

Approximately 87 percent of the river's water use is for agriculture. Some wetlands rehabilitation in the upper Mokolo has been carried out and that effort has been deemed a success.[6] The Mokolo Dam Nature Reserve is located by the eastern and southern sides of the Mokolo Dam reservoir.[7]

The highest concentration of hippopotamus in the Limpopo River is found between the mouths of the Mokolo and the Mogalakwena Rivers.

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. http://www.emagameni.co.za/Transvaal%20Indigenous%20Place%20Names.pdf Transvaal Indigenous Place Names
  2. Web site: Mokolo River Data . 2007-01-24 . https://web.archive.org/web/20071020215118/http://www.eskom.co.za/content/AppKDWAFBriefingFinal.pdf . 2007-10-20 . dead .
  3. http://www.dwaf.gov.za/iwqs/rhp/eco/FROC/WMA1Limpopo.jpg Limpopo WMA 1
  4. http://www.luminatechnologies.org/lumaw.html C.Michael Hogan, Mark L. Cooke and Helen Murray, The Waterberg Biosphere, Lumina Technologies, May 22, 2006.
  5. http://www.dwaf.gov.za/iwqs/rhp/state_of_rivers/limpopo/mokolo_06.pdf State of Rivers Report: the Mokolo River
  6. Web site: Wetlands restoration projects of the Limpopo Basin and other South African watersheds . 2007-01-24 . https://web.archive.org/web/20070822004545/http://www.psybergate.com/wetfix/Progress/Progress5/Progress.htm . 2007-08-22 . dead .
  7. http://www.sa-venues.com/game-reserves/np_mokololo-dam.htm Mokolo Dam Nature Reserve, Limpopo