Nzhelele River | |
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![]() View of the Nzhelele River in the Philip Herd Nature Reserve | |
Etymology | Nzhelele meaning a falcon or an eagle that in ancient times followed elephant hunters and fed on the meat hanging in the trees to dry. [1] |
Location | |
Country | South Africa |
State | Limpopo Province |
Region | Dzanani |
District | Vhembe |
Municipality | Makhado |
Physical characteristics | |
Source | Thathe Vondo |
• location | Soutpansberg |
• elevation | 1,673 m (5,489 ft) |
Mouth | |
• location | Limpopo River, South Africa/Zimbabwe border |
• coordinates | 22°21′08″S30°22′19″E / 22.35222°S 30.37194°E |
• elevation | 404 m (1,325 ft) |
Basin size | 3,436 km2 (1,327 sq mi) |
Basin features | |
Tributaries | |
• left | Mutamba |
• right | Mufungudi, Tshishiru |
The Nzhelele River is a major watercourse in Limpopo Province, South Africa. The river's catchment area comprises 3,436 square kilometers. [2]
This river collects much of the drainage of the northern slopes of the extensive rock formation of the Soutpansberg. Leaving the mountainous area, it meanders in a northeastward direction across the Lowveld, a wide plain that contains considerable biodiversity, including numerous large mammals such as giraffes, white rhinos and blue wildebeests. [3] It joins the right bank of the Limpopo River 33 km east of Musina. [4]
The Mutamba River, its main tributary, rises in the Buelgum Poort farm of the Soutpansberg, further west from the sources of the Nzhelele. [5] Other tributaries are the Tshiruru River, Mugungudi River, Mutshedzi River and the Wyllie River. [6]