The Olifants River is the largest of the rivers in the Kruger National Park (KNP).
It encompasses a major portion of the Highveld regions of the Mpumalanga and Limpopo provinces. It is more than 500km long, its catchment basin exceeds 54 000km2, and touches or includes the towns of Bethal, Witbank, Middelburg, Belfast, Lydenburg and Moria.
Major tributaries beyond the Kruger Park boundary include the Wilge, Elands, Steelpoort, Klein Olifants, Blyde and Selati rivers. There are a multitude of small dams but at least 30 major impoundments, including the Witbank, Bronkhorstspruit, Middelburg, Loskop, Flag Boshielo, De Hoop and Blydepoort Dam and the Phalaborwa Barrage.
Late Salomon Joubert (Dr SCJ Joubert) started his conservation career in 1964 as a postgraduate student in the Sabi Sand Wildtuin and was appointed to the Kruger National Park as Junior Ranger at the end of 1964, stationed at the remote Klipkoppies Section on the Mozambique border (due east of Letaba). In 1967, he was granted study leave to do a BSc (Hon) (Wildlife Management) degree at Pretoria University.
In November 1967, he was transferred to the Research Section with responsibility for rare antelope, in particular roan. For his work on the social behaviour of roan, he was awarded an MSc and subsequently a DSc degree on the population ecology of
