The Olifants River, Lepelle, iBhalule or Obalule ( af, Olifantsrivier; pt, Rio dos Elefantes) is a river in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

and

Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...

, 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 ...

. It falls into the Drainage Area B of the Drainage basins of South Africa. The historical area of the

Pedi people The Pedi or (also known as the Northern Sotho or and the Marota or ) – are a southern African ethnic group that speak Pedi or ''Sepedi'', a dialect belonging to the Sotho-Tswana enthnolinguistic group. Northern Sotho is a term used to ...

, Sekhukhuneland, is located between the Olifants River and one of its largest tributaries, the Steelpoort River.

Course

The Olifants River has its origin between

Breyten Breyten is a small farming town in Mpumalanga, South Africa. It is situated at the foot of ''Klipstapel'', the highest point on the Drainage divide, watershed between the westward-flowing Vaal River system and the eastward-flowing Olifants/Letab ...

and Bethal, Mpumalanga Province. It flows north towards

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 is ...

through Witbank Dam and then the

Loskop Dam Loskop Dam is a combined gravity and arch type dam located on the Olifants River, near Groblersdal, Mpumalanga, South Africa. It was established in 1939 and has been renovated in 1979. The dam is situated in the Loskop Dam Nature Reserve and it ...

and is forced east by the Transvaal

Drakensberg The Drakensberg (Afrikaans: Drakensberge, Zulu: uKhahlambha, Sotho: Maluti) is the eastern portion of the Great Escarpment, which encloses the central Southern African plateau. The Great Escarpment reaches its greatest elevation – within t ...

, cutting through at the Abel Erasmus Pass and then flowing east further across the Lowveld to join with the Letaba River. It crosses into Gaza Province,

, after cutting through the

Lebombo Mountains The Lebombo Mountains, also called Lubombo Mountains ( pt, Montes Libombos), are an , narrow range of mountains in Southern Africa. They stretch from Hluhluwe in KwaZulu-Natal in the south to Punda Maria in the Limpopo Province in South Africa in ...

by way of the Olifants Gorge, becoming the ''Rio dos Elefantes'', and finally joining the

after 40 km before it enters the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by t ...

Xai-Xai Xai-Xai () is a city in the south of Mozambique. Until 1975, the city was named João Belo. It is the capital of Gaza Province. As of 2007 it has a population of 116,343. History Portuguese rule Xai-Xai, formerly João Belo, developed in the e ...

north of

Maputo Maputo (), formerly named Lourenço Marques until 1976, is the capital, and largest city of Mozambique. Located near the southern end of the country, it is within of the borders with Eswatini and South Africa. The city has a population of 1,0 ...

Water quality

Overgrazing Overgrazing occurs when plants are exposed to intensive grazing for extended periods of time, or without sufficient recovery periods. It can be caused by either livestock in poorly managed agricultural applications, game reserves, or nature res ...

in sections of its middle course result in the river carrying away eroded soil after heavy rains. The Olifants river has become one of the most heavily polluted rivers in South Africa, not by human or industrial waste, but by thriving green algae. A 2013 study in the Kruger Park found that the river was mesotrophic, meaning that nutrient levels were fairly low, though a slight increase in nitrates could initiate

eutrophication Eutrophication is the process by which an entire body of water, or parts of it, becomes progressively enriched with minerals and nutrients, particularly nitrogen and phosphorus. It has also been defined as "nutrient-induced increase in phytopla ...

. Very high

sulphate The sulfate or sulphate ion is a polyatomic anion with the empirical formula . Salts, acid derivatives, and peroxides of sulfate are widely used in industry. Sulfates occur widely in everyday life. Sulfates are salts of sulfuric acid and many ar ...

levels were attributed to coal mining and industry in the upper catchment.

Tributaries

The Olifants River's largest tributaries are the Letaba River and the Steelpoort River known as Tubatse River. Other tributaries are the Tongwane, Blyde, Moses, Spekboom, Timbavati, Nkumpi, Ga-Selati, Klaserie, Makhutswi,

Mohlapitse River The Mohlapitse River
post updated 2011-04-19; database downloaded 2017-02-28 is a small river in

Lepellane River, Mohwetse River and Ngwaritsi River. Some tributaries, notably the Klein Olifants River (origin near Hendrina, joins the Olifants River downstream of the Middelburg Dam), the Elands, Wilge and the

Bronkhorstspruit Bronkhorstspruit is a town 50 km east of Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa along the N4 highway towards Witbank. It also includes three townships called Zithobeni, Rethabiseng and Ekangala. On 18 May 2011, the Tshwane Metropolitan Municipal ...

, rise in the

Highveld The Highveld (Afrikaans: ''Hoëveld'', where ''veld'' means "field") is the portion of the South African inland plateau which has an altitude above roughly 1500 m, but below 2100 m, thus excluding the Lesotho mountain regions to the south-east of ...

grasslands. The Shingwedzi River flows close to the northeastern side of the

Massingir Dam Massingir Dam is a dam on the Rio dos Elefantes (Olifants or Lepelle), Gaza Province, Mozambique. It is named after the town of Massingir, in Massingir District. The Shingwedzi River flows close to the northeastern side of the reservoir and join ...

reservoir and joins the left bank of the Olifants about 12 km downstream from the dam wall.