
The Mazowe River (previously called Mazoe River) is a
river
A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...
in
Zimbabwe
file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map
Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...
and
Mozambique
Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Afr ...
, where it is called Rio Mazoe or Rio Mazoé.
The river rises north of
Harare
Harare ( ), formerly Salisbury, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of , a population of 1,849,600 as of the 2022 Zimbabwe census, 2022 census and an estimated 2,487,209 people in its metrop ...
, flows north and then northeast, where it forms part of the border with Mozambique and joins the Luenha River, a tributary of the
Zambezi River
The Zambezi (also spelled Zambeze and Zambesi) is the fourth-longest river in Africa, the longest east-flowing river in Africa and the largest flowing into the Indian Ocean from Africa. Its drainage basin covers , slightly less than half of t ...
. The Mazowe has a catchment basin of about . In 1920, the
Mazowe Dam was constructed on the river forty kilometres north of Harare to irrigate citrus farms.
The river and its tributaries are a popular site for gold panners and small placer operations,
although in the wet season, the Mazowe becomes a raging torrent, often breaking its banks and causing damage to local communities and farms.
References
Rivers of Zimbabwe
Rivers of Mozambique
Tributaries of the Zambezi River
International rivers of Africa
Mozambique–Zimbabwe border
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