Editing Limpopo River (section)

== Basin characteristics ==
[[File:GreasyLimpopo.jpg|thumb|right|Sign at the viewing deck of the Limpopo River at Mapungubwe National Park, South Africa, featuring a quote from Rudyard Kipling]]
The waters of the Limpopo flow sluggishly, with considerable silt content. [[Rudyard Kipling|Rudyard Kipling's]] characterization of the river as the "great grey-green, greasy Limpopo River, all set about with [[Vachellia xanthophloea|fever-trees]]", where the "[[Southern African rock python|Bi-Coloured Python Rock-Snake]]" dwells<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.kiplingsociety.co.uk/rg_elephantschild1.htm |title=The Elephant's Child, Rudyard Kipling |access-date=6 September 2018 |archive-date=5 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180905045050/http://www.kiplingsociety.co.uk/rg_elephantschild1.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> in the ''[[Just So Stories]]'' is apt. Rainfall is seasonal and unreliable: in dry years, the upper parts of the river flow for 40 days or less. The upper part of the drainage basin, in the Kalahari Desert, is arid but conditions become less arid further downriver. The next reaches drain the [[Waterberg Biosphere|Waterberg Massif]], a [[biome]] of semi-deciduous forest and low-density human population.<ref name="Hogan">C. Michael Hogan, Mark L. Cooke and Helen Murray, ''The Waterberg Biosphere'', Lumina Technologies, May 22, 2006. {{cite web|url=http://www.luminatechnologies.org/lumaw.html |title=Lumaw |access-date=2006-12-23 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070324191043/http://www.luminatechnologies.org/lumaw.html |archive-date=2007-03-24 }}</ref> The fertile lowlands support a denser population, and about 14&nbsp;million people live in the Limpopo basin. [[Flood]]ing during the [[Wet season|rainy season]] is an occasional problem in the lower reaches. During February 2000 heavy rainfalls during the passage of a [[cyclone]] caused the catastrophic [[2000 Mozambique flood]].

The highest concentration of [[hippopotamus]] in the Limpopo River is found between the Mokolo and the Mogalakwena Rivers.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.dwaf.gov.za/iwqs/rhp/state_of_rivers/limpopo/mokolo_06.pdf |title=State of Rivers Report: the Mokolo River |access-date=31 March 2012 |archive-date=2 April 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402184139/https://www.dwaf.gov.za/iwqs/rhp/state_of_rivers/limpopo/mokolo_06.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> There is a lot of mining activity in the Limpopo River basin with about 1,900 functioning mines, not counting about 1,700 abandoned mines.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.limpoporak.org/en/management/water+demand/mining+and+industry/in+the+basin.aspx?print=1 |title=Mines in the Limpopo River basin |website=limpoporak.org |access-date=5 April 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304064223/http://www.limpoporak.org/en/management/water+demand/mining+and+industry/in+the+basin.aspx?print=1 |archive-date=2016-03-04 |url-status=dead}}</ref>