Limpopo Valley Airfield Limpopo Valley Airport | |||||||||||
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| Summary | |||||||||||
| Airport type | Private | ||||||||||
| Serves | Mashatu Game Reserve and other lodges in the Northern Tuli Game Reserve, Botswana | ||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 1,770 ft / 539 m | ||||||||||
| Coordinates | 22°11′30″S29°07′55″E / 22.19167°S 29.13194°E Coordinates: 22°11′30″S29°07′55″E / 22.19167°S 29.13194°E | ||||||||||
| Map | |||||||||||
  TLD Location of airport in Botswana | |||||||||||
| Runways | |||||||||||
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Limpopo Valley Airfield( IATA : TLD, ICAO : FBTL) is an airport serving the Northern Tuli Game Reserve, an area of public and private game reserves in eastern Botswana. The airport is owned by Mashatu Game Reserve with a superseded ICAO code of FBLV. [3]
An IATA airport code, also known as an IATA location identifier, IATA station code or simply a location identifier, is a three-letter code designating many airports and metropolitan areas around the world, defined by the International Air Transport Association (IATA). The characters prominently displayed on baggage tags attached at airport check-in desks are an example of a way these codes are used.
The ICAOairport code or location indicator is a four-letter code designating aerodromes around the world. These codes, as defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization and published in ICAO Document 7910: Location Indicators, are used by air traffic control and airline operations such as flight planning.
Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Formerly the British protectorate of Bechuanaland, Botswana adopted its new name after becoming independent within the Commonwealth on 30 September 1966. Since then, it has been a representative republic, with a consistent record of uninterrupted democratic elections and the best perceived corruption ranking in Africa since at least 1998. It is currently Africa's oldest continuous democracy.
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The runway is 2.5 kilometres (1.6 mi) north of Pont Drift, a ford and border crossing station on the Limpopo River, which is locally the border between Botswana and South Africa.
A ford is a shallow place with good footing where a river or stream may be crossed by wading, or inside a vehicle getting its wheels wet. A ford may occur naturally or be constructed. Fords may be impassable during high water. A low water crossing is a low bridge that allows crossing over a river or stream when water is low but may be covered by deep water when the river is high.
The Limpopo River rises in South Africa, and flows generally eastwards 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 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/s at its mouth. The Limpopo is the second largest river in Africa that drains to the Indian Ocean, after the Zambezi River.
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by 2,798 kilometres (1,739 mi) of coastline of Southern Africa stretching along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countries of Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe; and to the east and northeast by Mozambique and Eswatini (Swaziland); and it surrounds the enclaved country of Lesotho. South Africa is the largest country in Southern Africa and the 25th-largest country in the world by land area and, with over 57 million people, is the world's 24th-most populous nation. It is the southernmost country on the mainland of the Old World or the Eastern Hemisphere. About 80 percent of South Africans are of Bantu ancestry, divided among a variety of ethnic groups speaking different African languages, nine of which have official status. The remaining population consists of Africa's largest communities of European, Asian (Indian), and multiracial (Coloured) ancestry.
