The Letaba River joins the Olifants River a few kilometres from the Kruger National Park's eastern border and has the longest trajectory from west to east across the Park.
Its source lies in the upper reaches of the Drakensberg Escarpment and its catchment covers an area of more than 13 600 km2. The major tributary of the Letaba is the Klein Letaba River, which has its origins in the Soutpansberg area and drains a large part of the northern plains of the area formerly known as Cazankulu.
Above its confluence with the Klein Letaba, the major tributaries of the Letaba include the Letsitele, Debengeni, Magoebaskloof and Thabina rivers and all arise in the Great Escarpment Mountains. Together, these rivers once contributed to the perennial flow of water in the Letaba River for its full length through the Park. However, during a dry phase of the climatic cycle in the 1940s and even more pertinently during the succession of drought years during the 1960s, it became apparent that its perennial status was seriously threatened.
« Late Salomon Joubert (Dr SCJ Joubert) started his conservation
