THE LUVUVHU RIVER
The Luvuvhu River, together with a number of its major tributaries, such as the Dzinda, Sterkstroom, Latonyanda and the highly diverse Mutale, originate in the Soutpansberg as deep and spectacular gorges in the landscape. The Luvuvhu and several of its tributaries are regarded as perennial.
Once out of its source, the Luvuvhu coils along the plains and re-enters the outlying reaches of the Soutpansberg before entering the Kruger National Park (KNP) at Dongadzivha, from where it winds its way through one spectacular ravine after the other. Eventually it breaks clear of the mountains and lazily finds its way through the Pafuri lowlands to its confluence with the Limpopo River in the vicinity of Crooks Corner.
“The once rich riparian vegetation has given way to forestry, orchards and cultivated lands.”
The Luvuvhu River is not particularly long, measuring some 200km from its source to its confluence with the Limpopo and encompassing a catchment basin of approximately 4 800km . Other than a number of small weirs in some of the tributaries, the Luvuvhu has two dams of significance, namely the , built in 1952 and east of Makhado, and, opened in 2005, in close proximity to the town of Thohoyandou.
