Limpopo is South Africa's northernmost province, lying within the great curve of the Limpopo River. It is a region of contrasts, from true bushveld country to majestic mountains, primeval indigenous forests, unspoilt wilderness and patchworks of farmland.

The province borders the countries of Botswana to the west, Zimbabwe to the north and Mozambique to the east. In the eastern region lies the northern half of the magnificent Kruger National Park, a nature reserve teeming with African wildlife in a total area roughly the size of Israel.

• South Africa's wildlife wonders

Limpopo is the gateway to the rest of Africa, with its shared borders making it favourably situated for economic cooperation with other parts of southern Africa.

The Maputo Development Corridor is to link the province directly with the Port of Maputo in Mozambique, creating development and trade opportunities, particularly in the southeast. Limpopo connects to the corridor via the Phalaborwa Spatial Development Initiative, a network of rail and road corridors linked to major seaports. This is complemented by airports in centres such as Phalaborwa and Musina, as well as the Gateway International Airport in Polokwane.

• Spatial development initiatives

Other important Limpopo towns include the major mining centres of Phalaborwa and Thabazimbi, and Tzaneen, a producer of tea, forestry products and tropical fruit. Bela-Bela, with its popular mineral water baths, is near the southern border.

Through the centre of the province runs the Great North Road, an important route into Africa, which crosses into Zimbabwe at the major border post of Beit Bridge.

A leopard in the Kruger National Park (Image: South African Tourism)

The land and its people
With a total area of 123 910 square kilometres, Limpopo is slightly larger than the US state of Pennsylvania. It's fifth-largest (and fifth-smallest) of the country's nine provinces, taking up 10.2% of South Africa's land area and with a mid-2006 population of 5.4-million people.

The principal home language is Sesotho, spoken by roughly half the population, followed by Tshivenda and Xitsonga.

Limpopo is in the savanna biome, an area of mixed grassland and trees generally known as bushveld. A summer-rainfall region, the northern and eastern areas are subtropical with hot and humid summers and mist in the mountains. Winter is mild and mostly frost-free.

Rich in natural beauty, culture and wildlife, Limpopo has a thriving tourism industry. In addition to the Kruger National Park, there are 54 provincial reserves and several luxury private game reserves.

• Bushveld adventures

Valuable archaeological artefacts have been discovered in the area, which lies on the open savannah of the Mapungubwe National Park at the confluence of the Limpopo and Shashe Rivers.

• Mapungubwe: South Africa's lost city of gold

Industry
Limpopo's rich mineral deposits include platinum group metals, iron ore, chromium high- and middle-grade coking coal, diamonds, antimony, phosphate and copper, as well as mineral reserves like gold, emeralds, scheelite, magnetite, vermiculite, silicon and mica. Base commodities such as black granite, corundum and feldspar are also found. Mining contributes to over a fifth of the provincial economy.

• Mining and minerals in South Africa

• Investing in Limpopo

Sunflowers, cotton, maize and peanuts are cultivated in the Bela-Bela and Modimolle areas. Modimolle is also known for its table-grape crops.

Tropical fruit, such as bananas, litchis, pineapples, mangoes and pawpaws, as well as a variety of nuts, are grown in the Tzaneen and Makhado areas. Tzaneen is also at the centre of extensive tea and coffee plantations.

More than 45% of the R2-billion annual turnover of the Johannesburg Fresh Produce Market comes from Limpopo. The province produces about 75% of South Africa's mangoes, 65% of its papayas, 36% of its tea, 25% of its citrus, bananas, and litchis, 60% of its avocados, 60% of its tomatoes, 285 000 tons of potatoes, 70% of its mangoes and 35% of its oranges.

ZZ2, the largest tomato farm in South Africa, lies between Tzaneen and Makhado. Extensive forestry plantations are also found in the region, including hardwood for furniture manufacture.

In addition to commercial agriculture, subsistence farming is the mainstay of a large section of the rural population.

• South African agriculture

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	A magnificent baobab tree in the Limpopo bushveld (Image: South African Tourism)

	Limpopo takes up 10.2% of South Africa's total land area (Map: Mary Alexander)

	Map: Department of Environment and Tourism

South Africa's provinces The nine provinces of South Africa The Eastern Cape The Free State Gauteng KwaZulu-Natal Limpopo Mpumalanga The Northern Cape North West The Western Cape

	Capital: Polokwane Languages: 52.1% Sesotho, 22.4% Xitsonga, 15.9% Tshivenda Population: 5 355 172 (2006) Area: 123 910 square kilometres Percent of total SA area: 10.2% Population density: 43 people per square kilometre Gross regional product: R81.3-billion (2003) Percent of total SA GDP: 6.7%

	Kruger National Park The Kruger National Park is one of the oldest and largest wildlife preserves in the world, first proposed as necessary to protect the animals of the Lowveld by the then President of the Transvaal Boer republic, Paul Kruger, in 1898. It was officially declared a park under the National Parks Act in 1926, with the first motorists entering the reserve in 1927 for a fee of £1. The Kruger is home to an impressive number of species: 336 trees, 49 fish, 34 amphibians, 114 reptiles, 507 birds and 147 mammals. There are almost 254 known cultural heritage sites in the park, including nearly 130 recorded rock art sites.

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