The Matlabas River is a river in
Limpopo Province
Limpopo is the northernmost province of South Africa. It is named after the Limpopo River, which forms the province's western and northern borders. The capital and largest city in the province is Polokwane, while the provincial legislature ...
,
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...
. It is a tributary of the
Limpopo River
The Limpopo River rises in South Africa and flows generally eastward through Mozambique to the Indian Ocean. The term Limpopo is derived from Rivombo (Livombo/Lebombo), a group of Tsonga settlers led by Hosi Rivombo who settled in the mountain ...
. The river's catchment area comprises 3,448 square kilometers. The entire catchment area of the river is located within the
Waterberg District Municipality
Waterberg is one of the 5 districts of Limpopo province of South Africa. The seat of Waterberg is Modimolle. The majority of its 745 758 people speak Sepedi, also known as Northern Sotho (2016 Community Survey). The district code is DC36.
Ge ...
.
Course
The Matlabas has its source in the western part of the
Waterberg Massif within the area of the
Marakele National Park
Marakele National Park is a National Park, part of the Waterberg Biosphere in Limpopo Province, South Africa.
Flora and fauna
The park is accessible to all passenger vehicles, with the camp and tent sites on good roads. Also, approximately 80&n ...
. After leaving the mountains it flows roughly northwestwards across the
Lowveld
Veld ( or ), also spelled veldt, is a type of wide open rural landscape in :Southern Africa. Particularly, it is a flat area covered in grass or low scrub, especially in the countries of South Africa, Lesotho, Eswatini, Zimbabwe and Botswa ...
until it joins the right bank of the Limpopo River.
Although it is a perennial river, the Matlabas is highly subject to seasonal variations, thus its
runoff
Runoff, run-off or RUNOFF may refer to:
* RUNOFF, the first computer text-formatting program
* Runoff or run-off, another name for bleed, printing that lies beyond the edges to which a printed sheet is trimmed
* Runoff or run-off, a stock marke ...
is very variable. Its main tributary is the
Mamba River.
Limpopo WMA 1
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See also
*Drainage basin A Drainage Basin A, is one of the drainage basins of South Africa. The main river in this system is the Limpopo River. It is subdivided into 9 sub-drainage basins.
* A1 is situated along the Botswana border, and is again divided into 3 river basins ...
* List of rivers of South Africa
This is a list of rivers in South Africa.
It is quite common to find the Afrikaans word ''-rivier'' as part of the name. Another common suffix is "''-kamma''", from the Khoisan term for "river"
Meiring, Barbara"South African Toponymic Guideline ...
References
External links
Water Resource Quality Situation Assessment
Rivers of Limpopo
Tributaries of the Limpopo River
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