Waterberg is one of the 5 districts of

Limpopo 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 ...

province of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

. The seat of Waterberg is Modimolle. The majority of its 745 758 people speak Sepedi, also known as Northern Sotho (2016 Community Survey). The district code is DC36.

Geography

The municipality contains much of the Waterberg Biosphere, a

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international coope ...

designated Biosphere Reserve. The Waterberg Biosphere is a massif of approximately . Waterberg is the first region in the northern part of South Africa to be named as a Biosphere Reserve by

. The extensive rock formation was shaped by hundreds of millions of years of riverine erosion to yield diverse bluff and

butte __NOTOC__ In geomorphology, a butte () is an isolated hill with steep, often vertical sides and a small, relatively flat top; buttes are smaller landforms than mesas, plateaus, and tablelands. The word ''butte'' comes from a French word me ...

landform.C.Michael Hogan, Mark L. Cooke and Helen Murray, ''The Waterberg Biosphere'', Lumina Technologies, May 22, 2006

/ref> The ecosystem can be characterised as a dry deciduous forest or

Bushveld The Bushveld (from af, bosveld, af, bos 'bush' and af, veld) is a sub-tropical woodland ecoregion of Southern Africa. It encompasses most of Limpopo Province and a small part of the North West Province of South Africa, the Central and Nort ...

. Within the Waterberg there are

archaeological Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

finds dating to the

Stone Age The Stone Age was a broad prehistoric period during which stone was widely used to make tools with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years, and ended between 4,000 BC and 2,000 BC, with ...

, and nearby are early

evolutionary Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variati ...

finds related to the origin of

human Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, cultu ...

s. The following sets forth neighboring municipalities and principal municipalities within the Waterberg District Municipality:

Neighbours

Waterberg is surrounded (clockwise) by: * Vhembe (DC34) to the north-east * Capricorn (DC35) to the east * Sekhukhune (CBDC3) to the south-east * Nkangala (DC31) to the south-east * Metsweding (CBDC2) to the south * Bojanala Platinum (DC37) to the south * Ngaka Modiri Molema (DC38) to the south-west * the Kgatleng District of the republic of

Botswana Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label= Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kal ...

to the west

Local municipalities

The district contains the following local municipalities: Source: Statistics South Africa, Community Survey 2016

Demographics

The following statistics are from the 2016 Community Survey

Gender

Ethnic group

Age

Politics

Election results

Election results for Waterberg in the South African Municipal election, 2016

References

External links

Waterberg District Municipality
{{Municipalities of Limpopo District municipalities of Limpopo Waterberg District Municipality