sun-baked plain ranging in elevation from 300 to 450 metres, the Northern Region extends north of the Olifants River. This semi-arid region, covering 7 000 square kilometres, is relatively close to the warm, moisture-laden air currents of the Indian Ocean, and yet annual rainfall for the most part varies from 400 to 500 millimetres.
Average rainfall for Olifants Camp is 478 millimetres, 523 millimetres for Shingwedzi Camp, and only in the months from November to February does more than 50 millimetres fall in any one month.
The distribution of this tree in South Africa, Mozambique and Zimbabwe coincides with hot, semi-arid, low-lying valleys, and the mopane thrives under these conditions. Mopane leaves hang vertically and during the heat of the day very little shade is cast, which helps to minimise evaporation.
During the severe drought of the mid-1940s, the Letaba stopped flowing for two short spells at the end of winter. The Letaba and Olifants rivers are home to 60 per cent of the Park's hippo, and in the past large numbers of hippo died in times of drought. In 1970 the American industrialist, Charles Engelhard, financed the construction of a large dam on the Letaba River downstream of Letaba Camp.
Where the Olifants cuts a gorge through the Lebombo, goliath heron, Cape parrot, yellowbellied bulbul, yellow-spotted nicator and black stork build nests, and shrub mopaneveld can reveal Dickinson's kestrel, marsh owl, rock kestrel, cloud cisticola and broadbilled roller.
|
