The Nata River or Manzamnyama River is a natural watercourse in Southern Africa. It is an ephemeral river flowing in

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

and

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 has a length of 330 km from its source to mouth, 210 km in Zimbabwe and 120 km in Botswana. Its total catchment area is 24,585 km². The river originates in Sandown (S20.425036˚, E28.180660˚), a small farming town located on the Zimbabwean central watershed 50 km south west of

Bulawayo Bulawayo (, ; Ndebele: ''Bulawayo'') is the second largest city in Zimbabwe, and the largest city in the country's Matabeleland region. The city's population is disputed; the 2022 census listed it at 665,940, while the Bulawayo City Council cl ...

and ends in 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 ...

(S20.348816˚, E26.240166˚) in Botswana. There is no outlet from the salt pans which can be considered as the “dead sea” of the south. The upper reaches of the river are located in a commercial farming area where good environmental and farming practices have resulted in the river experiencing very little siltation/sedimentation. Impressive sedimentation starts occurring about 65 km along the river course marking the beginning of a 90 km stretch in

where the river passes through communal farming areas. It is on this stretch where the sand-abstraction potential of the river is realised and communities rely on the sand river water for domestic, farming and livestock purposes. Within the country of

the Nata River is a source of water to the ephemeral

wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...

s of the

, where a number of species of limited distribution thrive.Hulsmans, 2006 Specifically the Nata River discharges to

Sua Pan The Sua Pan or Sowa Pan is a large natural topographic depression within the Makgadikgadi region of Botswana. It is located near the village of ''Sowa'', whose name means salt in the language of the San. The Sua salt pan is one of three large pa ...

, draining parts of eastern

and southwestern

References

* Ann Hulsmans, Sofie Bracke, Kelle Moreau, Bruce J. Riddoch, Luc De Meester and Luc Brendonck, ''Dormant egg bank characteristics and hatching pattern of the Phallocryptus spinosa (Anostraca) population in the Makgadikgadi Pans (Botswana)'',

Hydrobiologia ''Hydrobiologia'', ''The International Journal of Aquatic Sciences'', is a peer-reviewed scientific journal publishing 21 issues per year, for a total of well over 4000 pages per year. ''Hydrobiologia'' publishes original research, reviews and opi ...

, Springer Netherlands, Volume 571, Number 1 / November, 2006 ISSN 0018-8158 (Print) 1573–5117, pages 123-13

* Chris McIntyre (2008) ''Botswana: Okavango Delta, Chobe, Northern Kalahari'', Bradt publishers, 502 pages

Line notes

Rivers of Botswana Rivers of Zimbabwe Makgadikgadi Pan {{Zimbabwe-river-stub

See also

References

Line notes