River
Olifants River (Limpopo)
560 km from source to mouth · South Africa.
South AfricaFlows into Limpopo River6th longest in South Africa
In numbers
Length
560km
Average flow
110m³/s
Basin
54,600km²
Drop
1,570m
from 1,624 m to 54 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
560 km of river and 19 stops on the way: 1 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 1,624 m
- 67 kmWitbank Dam
- 122 kmWilge Rivertributary
- 135 kmLoskop Dam
- 165 kmMotetema10,090 people
- 179 kmMoses Rivertributary
- 187 kmElands River (Olifants)tributary
- 198 kmFlag Boshielo Dam
- 221 kmNkumpi Rivertributary
- 262 kmTongwane Rivertributary
- 280 kmMohlapitse Rivertributary
- 320 kmSteelpoort Rivertributary
- 357 kmBlyde Rivertributary
- 366 kmMakhutswi Rivertributary
- 403 kmGa-Selati Rivertributary
- 404 kmKlaserie Rivertributary
- 443 kmTimbavati Rivertributary
- 458 kmLetaba Rivertributary
- 484 kmAlbufeira De Massingir119 km²
- 495 kmShingwedzi Rivertributary
- 560 kmLimpopo Riverat 54 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in South Africa (Mpumalanga and Limpopo) and Mozambique (Gaza)
At the mouth it carries 114 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 22 seconds. It drops from 1,624 m to 54 m, 2.8 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 54,600 km², about the size of HR. 4.4 million people live in it. Highest water: from January to February; lowest: from June to September. It is heavily dammed: reservoirs can hold 101% of a year's flow.
Where to start
- MotetemaLargest city on its banks · 10,090 people
- Polokwane International Airport (PTG)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 139 km from the cityCar hire at PTG airport (Polokwane)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- From May to SeptemberThe best months to visit
Olifants River (Limpopo), month by month
Highest water: from January to February
Lowest water: from June to September. Best months to visit: from May to September.
From about 24 m³/s in the lowest month to 550 m³/s in the highest. An estimate: the monthly flow is modelled from the lowest and highest months of WaterGAP (RiverATLAS, 1971–2000) and the rain and snow along the river (WorldClim). Dams change the real rhythm. The chip is the average air temperature; below it, the month's rain.
Plan the trip
Plan the trip: boat trips, a bed by the river, a car
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
The basin
Olifants River (Limpopo): the basin in numbers
81,486 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 4.4millionpeople live in the basin
- 54/km²people per km²
- 916maverage altitude of the basin
- 660mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 19.4°Caverage air temperature
- 43%protected areas
- 0.4%covered by lakes
- 3.8km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 37% Forest
- 13% Cropland
- 45% Pasture
- 3% Towns and cities
RiverATLAS (HydroATLAS v1.0, CC BY 4.0): land cover, people, protected areas, glaciers and dams over the whole basin upstream of the mouth.
Along the river
Olifants River (Limpopo): what you find on the way
- 24WeirsOlifantspoort Weir, Havercroft Weir and 22 more
- 2Waterfalls
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.3 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Olifants River (Limpopo) in our other atlases
What our sister atlases know about the waterfalls on this river, the lakes it flows through, the beaches at its mouth, the mountains where it rises and the islands off its mouth.
1lake on its wayLakeyas
1mountain at the sourcePeakyas
Lakes and reservoirs (1)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Albufeira De Massingirkm 745119km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
From space
The source and the mouth, seen from orbit
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX IT Services GmbH (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2016), CC BY 4.0. The glowing line is the river as drawn by RiverATLAS.
Photos
Olifants River (Limpopo) in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
It flows into
Limpopo River
Mozambique1,750 km170 m³/sTributaries (18)
Also: Blyde River, Letaba River, Steelpoort River, Timbavati River, Shingwedzi River, Ga-Selati River, Elands River (Olifants), Wilge River, Klaserie River, Tongwane River, Moses River, Tamboti River, Nkumpi River, Mohlapitse River, Makhutswi River, Nhlaralumi River, Klein Olifants, Steenkoolspruit
BotswanaNearby
Rivers nearby
Mozambique480 km110 m³/s184 km awayMaputo RiverMozambique300 km110 m³/s248 km awayBubye River
Zimbabwe1,010 km140 m³/s252 km awayRunde RiverZimbabwe418 km140 m³/s313 km awayMbabane River
Eswatini73 km7.4 m³/s298 km awayMzimene RiverEswatini191 km51 m³/s307 km awayShashe RiverZimbabwe300 km21 m³/s397 km awaySave RiverMozambique400 km910 m³/s432 km awayWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q978191) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Course, profile, basin | RiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed from the source to the mouth given by Wikidata |
| Flow | WaterGAP (RiverATLAS), 1971–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate along the river | WorldClim (RiverATLAS), 1970–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Towns, bridges, dams | Wikidata · CC0; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0 |
| Along the river | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Our other atlases | Lakeyas, Peakyas — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0; HydroLAKES · CC BY 4.0; NOAA OISST |
Every source and licence is on the data sources page.
The family
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?
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Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit