The Wolkberg is a

mountain range A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have aris ...

Tzaneen Tzaneen () is a town situated in the Mopani district of the Limpopo Province in South Africa. It is situated in a high rainfall fertile region with tropical and subtropical agriculture taking place in a region. It is Limpopo's second largest to ...

Limpopo Province 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 term Limpopo is derived from Rivombo (Livombo/Lebombo), a group of Tsonga settlers ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. It is a northern termination and a subrange of the

Drakensberg The Drakensberg (Zulu language, Zulu: uKhahlamba, Sotho language, Sotho: Maloti, Afrikaans: Drakensberge) is the eastern portion of the Great Escarpment, Southern Africa, Great Escarpment, which encloses the central South Africa#Geography, Sout ...

which lines up from

Eastern Cape The Eastern Cape ( ; ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, and its largest city is Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth). Due to its climate and nineteenth-century towns, it is a common location for tourists. It is also kno ...

Lesotho Lesotho, formally the Kingdom of Lesotho and formerly known as Basutoland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Entirely surrounded by South Africa, it is the largest of only three sovereign enclave and exclave, enclaves in the world, t ...

Kwazulu Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN) is a Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the government merged the Zulu people, Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu language, Zulu) and ...

and

Mpumalanga Mpumalanga () is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. The name means "East", or literally "The Place Where the Sun Rises" in the Nguni languages. Mpumalanga lies in eastern South Africa, bordering Eswatini and Mozambique. It shares bor ...

. At 2200 m (7200 ft) above sea level, it is the highest mountain range in Limpopo, together with the Iron crown mountain. The range extends for about in a NW/SE direction north of Sekhukhuneland. The nearest towns are

Haenertsburg Haenertsburg is a village situated on the edge of the Great Escarpment in the Limpopo Province of South Africa, on the R71 road between Polokwane (formerly: ''Pietersburg'') and Tzaneen en route to the Kruger National Park. Farming and tourism ...

and

Physiography

The range forms a high plateau reaching up to 2126 m in height at the Ysterkroon, its highest point. Other conspicuous peaks are 2050 m high Serala, 1838 m high Mamotswiri, 1667 m high Magopalone and 1611 m high Selemole. The Wolkberg is the source of many small mountain streams, as well as the Mohlapitse and the

Ga-Selati River The Ga-Selati River or Selati River () is a river in Limpopo, South Africa. Course It rises on the rugged western slopes of the Wolkberg Mountains, part of the Drakensberg Mountain chain, about 20 km SE of Tzaneen. From its source in this hi ...

, tributaries of the Olifants River.

Ecology

Weather can change very fast from clear skies to becoming misty, with the highest reaches enveloped in clouds. Hence the name of the range, meaning "Cloud Mountain" in

Afrikaans Afrikaans is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia and to a lesser extent Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and also Argentina where there is a group in Sarmiento, Chubut, Sarmiento that speaks the Pat ...

. The Wolkberg is rugged, with rocky shoulders and deep humid gorges. There are rare plant and animal species in these areas. Species such as the

Wolkberg Zulu ''Alaena margaritacea'', the Wolkberg Zulu, is a species of Zulu butterfly in the family Lycaenidae. It is endemic to South Africa, where it is only known from grassy slopes adjoining Afromontane forest in the Haenertsburg area of Limpopo near th ...

(''Alaena margaritacea''), the

Wolkberg aloe The Wolkberg is a mountain range in Tzaneen, Limpopo Province, South Africa. It is a northern termination and a subrange of the Drakensberg mountain range which lines up from Eastern Cape, Lesotho, Kwazulu Natal and Mpumalanga. At 2200 m ( ...

(''Aloe dolomitica''),

Wolkberg cycad ''Encephalartos dolomiticus'', the Wolkberg cycad, is a critically endangered species of cycad. It is only found in the Wolkberg at elevations of 1100–1500 meters. The area is near Penge in southeastern Limpopo Province, South Africa. Descript ...

(''Encephalartos dolomiticus''), the

Wolkberg widow ''Dingana clara'', the Wolkberg widow, is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. It is only known from the Wolkberg in the Limpopo Province. The wingspan is 60–65 mm for males and 56–62 mm for females. Adults are on wing from Sept ...

(''Dingana clara'') and the Wolkberg sandman (''Spialia secessus''), have been named after these mountains. Some species like the

critically endangered An IUCN Red List critically endangered (CR or sometimes CE) species is one that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild. As of December 2023, of t ...

butterfly Lotana blue (''Lepidochrysops lotana'') are only known from the Wolkberg area. The Wolkberg Wilderness Area is a

protected area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural or cultural values. Protected areas are those areas in which human presence or the exploitation of natural resources (e.g. firewood ...

located in the range.Maloti-Drakensberg Transfrontier Conservation Area
/ref>

References

External links

Google Earth Map of the Wolkberg
— ''near Polokwane, Limpopo Province''.

Drakensberg Mountain ranges of Limpopo {{Limpopo-geo-stub

Physiography

Ecology

See also

References

External links