Mopipi is a village in
Central District of
Botswana
Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label=Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kalahar ...
. It is located close to
Makgadikgadi Pan
The Makgadikgadi Pan (Tswana pronunciation ), a salt pan situated in the middle of the dry savanna of north-eastern Botswana, is one of the largest salt flats in the world. The pan is all that remains of the formerly enormous Lake Makgadikg ...
. The population was 3,066 in 2001 census. This village was named after a tree called
Mopipi
Mopipi is a village in Central District of Botswana. It is located close to Makgadikgadi Pan. The population was 3,066 in 2001 census. This village was named after a tree called Mopipi, which is commonly found in the region. This area has witne ...
, which is commonly found in the region. This area has witnessed steady acidification and
desertification
Desertification is a type of land degradation in drylands in which biological productivity is lost due to natural processes or induced by human activities whereby fertile areas become increasingly arid. It is the spread of arid areas caused by ...
since the
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...
, but perhaps most dramatically since the 19th century.
[Michael Main (2001) ''African Adventurer's Guide to Botswana'', Published by Struik, . 304 pages] In particular, the
Boteti River
The Boteti River (also Botletle RiverHelgren, David M. (1984) "Historical Geomorphology and Geoarchaeology in the Southwestern Makgadikgadi Basin, Botswana" ''Annals of the Association of American Geographers'' 74(2): pp. 298–307, page 298 used to flow year around in this area
on its way to discharge to the
Makgadikgadi Pans
The Makgadikgadi Pan (Tswana pronunciation ), a salt pan situated in the middle of the dry savanna of north-eastern Botswana, is one of the largest salt flats in the world. The pan is all that remains of the formerly enormous Lake Makgadikg ...
,
[C. Michael Hogan (2008]
The Megalithic Portal, ed. A. Burnham
/ref> but presently this flow is only in the rainy season.
The village has grown since 2001, nowadays there are more services and it is the investment hotspot of Boteti West. Companies like Super Power Complex and Saverite have take the village by storm as of 2021 and other bigger companies are taking interest there as the tourism industry and agricultural industry are booming with more people starting commercial farming.
References
Populated places in Central District (Botswana)
Villages in Botswana
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