Phalaborwa | |
---|---|
Coordinates: 23°56′S31°7′E / 23.933°S 31.117°E | |
Country | South Africa |
Province | Limpopo |
District | Mopani |
Municipality | Ba-Phalaborwa |
Area | |
• Total | 193.33 km2 (74.65 sq mi) |
Elevation | 437 m (1,434 ft) |
Population (2011) [1] | |
• Total | 13,108 |
• Density | 68/km2 (180/sq mi) |
Racial makeup (2011) | |
• Black African | 56.8% |
• Coloured | 1.9% |
• Indian/Asian | 1.5% |
• White | 39.4% |
• Other | 0.4% |
First languages (2011) | |
• Afrikaans | 15.10% |
• English | 11.1% |
• Tsonga | 10.1% |
• Northern Sotho | 51.7% |
• Other | 12.0% |
Time zone | UTC+2 (SAST) |
Postal code (street) | 1389 |
PO box | 1390 |
Area code | 015 |
Website | Phalaborwa trade and tourism |
Phalaborwa (translated to English as better than the south; phala means better than and borwa means south) is a town in the Mopani District Municipality, Limpopo province, South Africa.
The name "Ba-Phalaborwa" was given to the area by the Sotho tribes who moved there from the south. It means "better than the south".
The Sotho mined and smelted copper and iron ore there by 400 AD.
It is located near the confluence of the Ga-Selati River and the Olifants, halfway up along the western border of the Kruger National Park in the Lowveld.
It is the only town in South Africa that borders Kruger National Park. The border with Mozambique is two hours away. Various private game reserves nearly surround Phalaborwa. Hans Merensky Golf Estate is situated on the outskirts. [2]
Nearby natural attractions are Blyde River Canyon, the Three Rondavels, God's Window and Bourke's Luck Potholes; the Tzaneen fruit farms and Hoedspruit game farms can all be visited within a day.
Masorini, near Phalaborwa gate, is a reconstructed Ba-Phalaborwa hill village, with huts, grain storage areas, and an iron smelting site.
Two townships, Namakgale and Lulekani are where the Pedi and Tsonga reside. Rural areas such as Mashishimale, Humulani, Kurhula (Matshama Hi Nkano), Ben Farm (Majeje), Makushane and Ga-Maseke.Ga-selwane.majeje 3 and prieska are there.
Phalaborwa is home to Palabora Mining. The massive open pit mine, nearly 2,000 meters across, is Africa's widest manmade hole.Founded in 1951, Foskor's Mining Division in Phalaborwa mines phosphate rock (foskorite and pyroxenite), from which Foskor's Acid Division in Richards Bay produces phosphoric acid and phosphate-based granular fertilisers for local and international markets. The opencast mine in Phalaborwa, in South Africa's Limpopo Province, has the capacity to yield 2.6 million tons per annum of phosphate rock concentrate from processing 35 million tons of ore per annum. Once crushed, milled, concentrated and dried, most of the phosphate rock concentrate is railed to Foskor's processing plant in Richards Bay, 800 km away on the country's east coast. [3]
Tourism and wildlife play a dominant role in the economy.
Phalaborwa Airport is a commercial airport serving the town.
This area is also known as the Valley of the Olifants. Rainfall is low. It has the highest winter temperature in South Africa, with an average winter temperature range from 9 °C to 26 °C.During summer the average temperatures vary from 20 °C to 33 °C with occasional heavy rainfall. The highest recorded temperature was 50 °C in December 2018. [4]
Climate data for Phalaborwa | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 34 (93) | 33 (91) | 32 (90) | 30 (86) | 29 (84) | 27 (81) | 26 (79) | 28 (82) | 31 (88) | 32 (90) | 32 (90) | 33 (91) | 33 (91) |
Daily mean °C (°F) | 26.5 (79.7) | 26 (79) | 25 (77) | 23 (73) | 20 (68) | 18 (64) | 17.5 (63.5) | 19 (66) | 22 (72) | 23 (73) | 24 (75) | 26 (79) | 22 (72) |
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 21 (70) | 21 (70) | 20 (68) | 17 (63) | 12 (54) | 10 (50) | 9 (48) | 11 (52) | 14 (57) | 17 (63) | 19 (66) | 21 (70) | 16 (61) |
Average precipitation mm (inches) | 97 (3.8) | 81 (3.2) | 65 (2.6) | 25 (1.0) | 12 (0.5) | 4 (0.2) | 7.5 (0.30) | 7 (0.3) | 21 (0.8) | 46 (1.8) | 69 (2.7) | 96 (3.8) | 529 (20.8) |
Source: [5] |
Sepedi, formerly known by as Sesotho sa Leboa, is a Sotho-Tswana language group spoken in the northeastern provinces of South Africa. It is commonly referred to in its standardized form as Pedi or Sepedi and holds the status of an official language in South Africa.
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 mountainous vicinity and named the area after their leader. The river has been called Vhembe by local Venda communities of the area where now that name has been adopted by the South African government as its District Municipality in the north, a name that was also suggested in 2002 as a possible name to be adopted for the Province but was voted against. The river is approximately 1,750 kilometres (1,087 mi) long, with a drainage basin 415,000 square kilometres (160,200 sq mi) in size. The mean discharge measured over a year is 170 m3 per second at its mouth. The Limpopo is the second largest river in Africa that drains to the Indian Ocean, after the Zambezi River.
South Africa occupies the southern tip of Africa, its coastline stretching more than 2,850 kilometres from the desert border with Namibia on the Atlantic (western) coast southwards around the tip of Africa and then northeast to the border with Mozambique on the Indian (eastern) coast. The low-lying coastal zone is narrow for much of that distance, soon giving way to a mountainous escarpment that separates the coast from the high inland plateau. In some places, notably the province of KwaZulu-Natal in the east, a greater distance separates the coast from the escarpment. Although much of the country is classified as semi-arid, it has considerable variation in climate as well as topography. The total land area is 1,220,813 km2 (471,359 sq mi). It has the 23rd largest Exclusive Economic Zone of 1,535,538 km2 (592,875 sq mi).
Kruger National Park is a South African National Park and one of the largest game reserves in Africa. It covers an area of 19,623 km2 (7,576 sq mi) in the provinces of Limpopo and Mpumalanga in northeastern South Africa, and extends 360 km (220 mi) from north to south and 65 km (40 mi) from east to west. The administrative headquarters are in Skukuza. Areas of the park were first protected by the government of the South African Republic in 1898, and it became South Africa's first national park in 1926.
Mpumalanga is a province of South Africa. The name means "East", or literally "The Place Where the Sun Rises" in the Nguni languages. Mpumalanga lies in eastern South Africa, bordering Eswatini and Mozambique. It shares borders with the South African provinces of Limpopo to the north, Gauteng to the west, the Free State to the southwest, and KwaZulu-Natal to the south. The capital is Mbombela.
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 situated in Lebowakgomo.
Mokopane, also known as Potgietersrus, is a town in the Limpopo province of South Africa.
Musina, also known as Messina, is the northernmost town in the Limpopo province of South Africa. It is located near the confluence of the Limpopo River with the Sand River and the border to Zimbabwe with a population of between 20,000 and 40,000. Iron ore, coal, magnetite, graphite, asbestos, diamonds, semi-precious stones and copper are mined in the region.
Tzaneen is a large tropical garden town situated in the Mopani District Municipality of the Limpopo province in South Africa. It is situated in a high rainfall fertile region with tropical and subtropical agriculture taking place in a 20,000 square kilometres (7,700 sq mi) region. It is Limpopo's second largest town after Polokwane.
The Olifants River,Lepelle, iBhalule or Obalule is a river in South Africa and Mozambique, a tributary of the Limpopo River. It falls into the Drainage Area B of the Drainage basins of South Africa. The historical area of the Pedi people, Sekhukhuneland, is located between the Olifants River and one of its largest tributaries, the Steelpoort River.
The Bushveld is a sub-tropical woodland ecoregion of Southern Africa. The ecoregion straddles the Tropic of Capricorn and constitutes the southern part of the Zambezian region. It encompasses most of Limpopo and a small part of North West in South Africa, the Central and North-East Districts of Botswana and the Matabeleland South and part of Matabeleland North provinces of Zimbabwe. The Kruger National Park has a number of 'Bushveld' camps, but these are strictly speaking in the lowveld, as these terms are sometimes used interchangeably. Although their limits are somewhat blurred, lowveld is generally restricted to the more easterly parts of South Africa and Zimbabwe.
Hans Merensky was a South African geologist, prospector, scientist, conservationist and philanthropist. He discovered the rich deposit of alluvial diamonds at Alexander Bay in Namaqualand, vast platinum and chrome reefs at Lydenburg, Rustenburg and Potgietersrus, which led to some of the largest platinum mines in the world, phosphates and copper at Phalaborwa in the Transvaal lowveld, gold in the Free State and the world's biggest chrome deposit at Jagdlust near Pietersburg.
The Pedi or Bapedi, also known as the Sotho, Basotho, Northern Sotho, Basotho ba Lebowa, Transvaal Sotho, Marota, or Bamaroteng are a Sotho-Tswana ethnic group that speak Pedi or Sepedi, which is one of the 12 official languages in South Africa. They are primarily situated in Limpopo, Gauteng and northern Mpumalanga.
Balule Nature Reserve is a protected area in Limpopo Province, South Africa which forms part of the Greater Kruger National Park as a member of the Associated Private Nature Reserves (APNR). As part of a wildlife conservation initiative, all fences separating APNR reserves – Balule, Timbavati, Klaserie, Umbabat, – and the Kruger National Park have been removed.
Hans Merensky Wilderness, also known as the Hans Merensky Nature Reserve, is a protected area in Limpopo Province, South Africa. It has an area of about 5,268 ha and lies in the Lowveld between the Kruger Park and the town of Tzaneen. It is located within the UNESCO Kruger to Canyons Biosphere on the banks of the Great Letaba River, a tributary of the Olifants River.
The Motlatse River, Blyde River, or Umdhlazi River is a river in the Mpumalanga and Limpopo provinces of South Africa. It has a northwards course in steep-sided valleys and ravines of the Mpumalanga Drakensberg, before it enters the lowveld region of the Limpopo province. It has its ultimate origins at around 2,000 m altitude in the Hartebeesvlakte conservation area, to the north of Long Tom Pass. It runs through the Blyde River Canyon.
The Ga-Selati River or Selati River is a river in Limpopo, South Africa.
Namakgale is a large township lying 12 km outside Phalaborwa in Mopani District in the Limpopo province of South Africa. Its nearest neighbouring townships are Lulekani, Makhushane, Maseke and Mashishimale on the R71 road to Gravelotte (GaMaenetje). It is next to the Kruger National Park on the north eastern part of the Limpopo province previously Northern Transvaal. The township enjoys the annual Marula festival during the months of February and March, when the ripe Marula fruit harvest is at its peak, and the Marula traditional beer is brewed. This is home to the Amarula liqueur is harvested, and the pulp is shipped to Cape Town for further processing. The citizens of Namakgale will enjoy the Mopani worms first harvest during March and April, and the second harvest in December. the Mopani tree and the Morula tree are very important to the residents of the Namakgale as they bring important community subsistence farming.
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