A great curving river of southern Africa, immortalised in Kipling's 'great grey-green, greasy Limpopo'.
Length
1,750 km
Source
Witwatersrand, South Africa
Mouth
Indian Ocean (Mozambique)
Continent
Africa
Countries
South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe & Mozambique
Did you know?
The Limpopo forms a huge arc, marking the borders of four countries along its course.
Little-known fact
Rudyard Kipling made it famous in his Just So Stories as the river 'all set about with fever-trees'.
Highlights
- A great river of southern Africa
- Borders four countries
- Made famous by Kipling
Life in the Limpopo
The fish and animals, waterbirds and water plants — including some of the rarest — that this water supports.
Animals & fish
Hippopotamus
Africa’s river giant spends its days submerged and is, pound for pound, among the continent’s most dangerous animals.
Nile crocodile
Africa’s largest crocodile and a patient ambush hunter little changed since the age of dinosaurs.
Waterbirds
African fish eagle
The ringing call of this black-white-and-chestnut raptor is the iconic “voice of Africa” by the water.
Interactive · 3D journey
Journey of a river · source → sea
Every river runs the same great journey — from an icy mountain spring, down through gorges and looping meanders, to a wide delta where it meets the sea. Tap a stage to follow the water downstream.
Tip: hover to tilt the valley · tap a stage to float downstream
The Source
Every river begins high up — in a mountain spring, a melting glacier or a boggy upland. The water is cold, clear and fast, tumbling down the steepest ground of its whole journey.
Landforms here