The Notwane River (or Ngotwane River) is a river in southeastern

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 ...

. Certain sections of its course form the international boundary with

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 ...

. Its mouth is at the head of the

Limpopo River The Limpopo River rises in South Africa and flows generally eastward 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 mountain ...

. It has a catchment area of 18,053 square kilometers.

Course

The Notwane rises about south of

Ramotswa Ramotswa is a village in South-East District of Botswana, southwest of the capital of Gaborone. The population was 27,760 in 2011 census. It is the tribal capital of the BaLete, an ethnic majority springing from the Nguni tribe. Ramotswa's m ...

, and runs along the border in a northeast direction to enter the Limpopo at the same longitude as Mahalapye. The Notwane has its source in the sandveld, at the eastern fringes of the

Kalahari Desert The Kalahari Desert is a large semi-arid sandy savanna in Southern Africa extending for , covering much of Botswana, and parts of Namibia and South Africa. It is not to be confused with the Angolan, Namibian, and South African Namib coastal d ...

. It flows roughly northeastwards past the most densely populated area of Botswana, passing east of

Lobatse Lobatse is a town in south-eastern Botswana, 70 kilometres south of the capital Gaborone, situated in a valley running north towards Gaborone and close to the border with South Africa. Lobatse has a population of 29,772 as of 2022. The town is an ...

, between the city of

Gaborone Gaborone ( , , ) is the capital and largest city of Botswana with a population of 246,325 based on the 2022 census, about 10% of the total population of Botswana. Its agglomeration is home to 421,907 inhabitants at the 2011 census. Gaboron ...

and Tlokweng village and then through

Mochudi Mochudi is one of the larger villages in Botswana with a population of 44,815 people in 2011. It is situated in the Bakgatla tribal region, in Kgatleng District, about northeast of Gaborone. The village lies several kilometres from the mai ...

village. Finally it joins the left bank of the Limpopo River at the border with South Africa, just 6 km short of the confluence of the Limpopo with the Matlabas River. The Notwane basin is drained by the Notwane itself and its tributaries the Taung, Segoditshane,

Metsimotlhabe Metsimotlhabe is a village in Kweneng District of Botswana. The village is located 20 km north-west of Gaborone, along the Gaborone–Molepolole Molepolole is a large village in Kweneng District, Botswana. The people who reside in Mo ...

, Metsemaswaane and Nywane. Its main tributaries are the

Taung Taung is a small town situated in the North West Province of South Africa. The name means ''place of the lion'' and was named after Tau, the King of the Barolong. ''Tau'' is the Tswana word for lion. Education High,Secondary and Middle Schools ...

, Peleng,

and Nywane rivers. All the rivers in the Notwane basin are ephemeral experiencing mostly brief, seasonal flow depending from the rainfall. The Notwane and Taung riverbeds are dry during the dry season and in years of drought they may be completely dry the whole year round. All these rivers may cause

flash floods A flash flood is a rapid flooding of low-lying areas: washes, rivers, dry lakes and depressions. It may be caused by heavy rain associated with a severe thunderstorm, hurricane, or tropical storm, or by meltwater from ice or snow flow ...

.The South East District, Botswana

History

The banks of the Notwane River have been occupied since the middle Stone Age. The first modern settlement was

Moshaweng Moshaweng is a village in Kweneng District of Botswana. It is located 60 km west of Molepolole Molepolole is a large village in Kweneng District, Botswana. The people who reside in Molepolole are called Bakwena, who are one of the eight ...

, which was established by

Chief Gaborone Gaborone (c. 1825 – 1931) was a ''kgosi'' (chief) of the Tlokwa, a tribe of the larger Tswana people in what is now Botswana. He became the tribe's chief around 1880, after the death of his father, and secured the Tlokwa's status as the "smalles ...

of the Tlokwa in the late 1880s, near the site of the modern capital. The city of Gaborone, an expansion of the earlier settlement, was developed on the Notwane River in the 1960s in part due to proximity to the railway, in part due to availability of water provided by the river.

Dams

The

Gaborone Dam The Gaborone Dam is a dam on the Notwane River in Botswana with a capacity of . The dam is operated by the Water Utilities Corporation, and supplies water to the capital city of Gaborone. Location The Gaborone Dam is located south of Gaborone ...

, which supplies water to the city of

, has a capacity of . Further upstream, the

Ngotwane Dam Ngotwane Dam is an earth-fill type dam located on the Ngotwane River, near Lobathleng, North West, South Africa. It was established in 1982 and serves primarily for irrigation purposes. The hazard potential of the dam has been ranked significant ...

Lehurutshe Lehurutshe (formerly known as Welbedacht) is a town in Ngaka Modiri Molema District Municipality in the North West province of South Africa. The town has within its vicinity the Lehurutshe campus of Taletso TVET, a fire station and numerous school ...

, South Africa has a capacity of . In the Gaborone dam catchment area there are many other dams, mostly very small, with only the

Nnywane Dam The Nnywane Dam is a dam on the Nnywane River in Botswana. The reservoir provides a water supply to Lobatse, a town south of Gaborone. Water from the reservoir may also be transferred to Gaborone if needed. Construction Nnywane Dam is the smal ...

near

being used for domestic water supply. Following a 1992 study on their impact on downstream water resources, a moratorium was placed on construction of small dams in the catchment area.

Fauna and Flora

Whilst the flow of the Notwane is ephemeral; biodiversity is the highest immediately upstream of the

, north of the confluence with the Taung river. The riverbed in this area generally retains small pools of water, even during prolonged dry periods. The

African sharptooth catfish ''Clarias gariepinus'' or African sharptooth catfish is a species of catfish of the family Clariidae, the airbreathing catfishes. Distribution They are found throughout Africa and the Middle East, and live in freshwater lakes, rivers, and swa ...

, locally known as barbel, are the most common fish species in these waters. The river also supports smaller populations of

bream Bream ( ) are species of freshwater and marine fish belonging to a variety of genera including '' Abramis'' (e.g., ''A. brama'', the common bream), '' Acanthopagrus'', ''Argyrops'', '' Blicca'', '' Brama'', '' Chilotilapia'', ''Etelis'', '' L ...

tilapia Tilapia ( ) is the common name for nearly a hundred species of cichlid fish from the coelotilapine, coptodonine, heterotilapine, oreochromine, pelmatolapiine, and tilapiine tribes (formerly all were "Tilapiini"), with the economically most ...

and introduced

carp Carp are various species of oily freshwater fish from the family Cyprinidae, a very large group of fish native to Europe and Asia. While carp is consumed in many parts of the world, they are generally considered an invasive species in parts of ...

. Birdlife proliferates as one gets nearer to the

, this includes a number of

heron The herons are long-legged, long-necked, freshwater and coastal birds in the family Ardeidae, with 72 recognised species, some of which are referred to as egrets or bitterns rather than herons. Members of the genera ''Botaurus'' and ''Ixobrychu ...

and

kingfisher Kingfishers are a family, the Alcedinidae, of small to medium-sized, brightly colored birds in the order Coraciiformes. They have a cosmopolitan distribution, with most species found in the tropical regions of Africa, Asia, and Oceania, ...

species.

African fish eagle The African fish eagle (''Haliaeetus vocifer'') or the African sea eagle, is a large species of eagle found throughout sub-Saharan Africa wherever large bodies of open water with an abundant food supply occur. It is the national bird of Malawi, Na ...

are seen regularly, along with

reed cormorant The reed cormorant (''Microcarbo africanus''), also known as the long-tailed cormorant, is a bird in the cormorant family Phalacrocoracidae. It breeds in much of Africa south of the Sahara, and Madagascar. It is resident but undertakes some se ...

and

african darter The African darter (''Anhinga rufa''), sometimes called the snakebird, is a water bird of sub-Saharan Africa and Iraq. Taxonomy The African darter is a member of the darter family, Anhingidae, and is closely related to American (''Anhinga anh ...

Verreaux's eagle-owl Verreaux's eagle-owl (''Bubo lacteus''), also commonly known as the milky eagle owl or giant eagle owl, is a member of the family Strigidae. This species is widespread in sub-Saharan Africa. A member of the genus ''Bubo'', it is the largest Afric ...

do occur in the area and yellow-billed kite are common summer visitors.

Southern yellow-billed hornbill The southern yellow-billed hornbill (''Tockus leucomelas'') is a hornbill found in southern Africa. Yellow-billed hornbills feed mainly on the ground, where they forage for seeds, small insects, spiders and scorpions. This hornbill species is a ...

southern red-billed hornbill The southern red-billed hornbill (''Tockus rufirostris'') is a species of hornbill in the family Bucerotidae, which is native to the savannas and dryer bushlands of southern Africa. It is replaced by a near-relative, the Damara red-billed hornbil ...

and

natal spurfowl The Natal spurfowl or Natal francolin (''Pternistis natalensis'') is a species of bird in the family Phasianidae. It is found in Botswana, Eswatini, Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Taxonomy The Natal spurfowl was described in 183 ...

are often seen in the surrounding woodland.

Vervet monkey The vervet monkey (''Chlorocebus pygerythrus''), or simply vervet, is an Old World monkey of the family Cercopithecidae native to Africa. The term "vervet" is also used to refer to all the members of the genus ''Chlorocebus''. The five distinct ...

are common along the river course nearer the

Chacma baboon The chacma baboon (''Papio ursinus''), also known as the Cape baboon, is, like all other baboons, from the Old World monkey family. It is one of the largest of all monkeys. Located primarily in southern Africa, the chacma baboon has a wide vari ...

may also be encountered and antelope species such as kudu and

impala The impala or rooibok (''Aepyceros melampus'') is a medium-sized antelope found in eastern and southern Africa. The only extant member of the genus ''Aepyceros'' and tribe Aepycerotini, it was first described to European audiences by Ger ...

are present, but rare.

Lesser bushbaby Lesser bushbabies, or lesser galagos, are strepsirrhine primates of the genus ''Galago''. They are classified, along with the bushbabies (genus ''Euoticus'') and the rest of the galagos (genera ''Otolemur'', ''Galagoides'', ''Paragalago'', and ''S ...

nest in this area and

black-backed jackal The black-backed jackal (''Lupulella mesomelas),'' also called the silver-backed jackal, is a medium-sized canine native to eastern and southern Africa. These regions are separated by roughly 900 kilometers. One region includes the southe ...

are heard occasionally in the evening. A small population of

nile crocodile The Nile crocodile (''Crocodylus niloticus'') is a large crocodilian native to freshwater habitats in Africa, where it is present in 26 countries. It is widely distributed throughout sub-Saharan Africa, occurring mostly in the central, eastern, ...

are resident in the lower courses of the river close to the

. Both nile monitor and

rock monitor The rock monitor (''Varanus albigularis'') is a species of monitor lizard in the family Varanidae. The species is endemic to Central, East, and southern Africa. It is the second-longest lizard found on the continent, and the heaviest-bodied; ...

do occur in the area, the former being seen more regularly. The

riparian A riparian zone or riparian area is the interface between land and a river or stream. Riparian is also the proper nomenclature for one of the terrestrial biomes of the Earth. Plant habitats and communities along the river margins and banks a ...

vegetation and surrounding woodland also provides suitable habitat for African rock python and

mozambique spitting cobra The Mozambique spitting cobra (''Naja mossambica'') is a highly venomous species of spitting cobra native to Africa. It is largely found in Angola, Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Taxono ...

. The river course is dominated by syringa berrytree, water fig and white bauhinia. The syringa berrytree being an invasive species introduced from

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

. The

vegetation eventually gives way to

acacia ''Acacia'', commonly known as the wattles or acacias, is a large genus of shrubs and trees in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the pea family Fabaceae. Initially, it comprised a group of plant species native to Africa and Australasia. The genus nam ...

woodland. Buffalo thorn, paperback thorn and knobthorn are common to this woodland. Marula and weeping wattle also occur in the area.

References

Sources * * * * *

External links

{{commons category
Limpopo River BasinA Preliminary Chronology of Modern GaboroneAbout Botswana
Tributaries of the Limpopo River Rivers of Botswana Botswana–South Africa border Rivers of North West (South African province)