Lephalale | Ellisras

Activities in Waterberg, Limpopo, South Africa, www.waterberg-information.co.za

Lephalale is situated between 23°30′ and 24°00′ south latitude and 27°30′ and 28°00′ east longitude and the town is positioned west of the Mokolo river, a tributary to the Limpopo river, 820 meters above sea level.

In Lephalale, the summers are long, hot, and partly cloudy and the winters are short, cool, dry, and clear. Over the course of the year, the temperature typically varies from 7 °C to 32 °C and is rarely below 4 °C or above 36 °C.

Based on the beach/pool score, the best times of year to visit Lephalale for hot-weather activities are from early February to mid April and from early September to early November.

Lephalale, in the Waterberg region of Limpopo in South Africa

Lephalale, also known as Ellisras, is a coal mining town in the Limpopo province of South Africa immediately east of the Waterberg Coalfield. The town was established as Ellisras in 1960 and named after Patrick Ellis and Piet Erasmus who settled on a farm there in the 1930s.

Lephalale, in the Waterberg region of Limpopo in South Africa

Meaning ‘heartbeat of the Bushveld’ is located in the Waterberg region of Limpopo in South Africa.

The town is well known for its coal mining industry and for Matimba, the largest direct dry cooling power station in the world, which was necessitated by the severe shortage of water in the area where it is situated.

Lephalale, in the Waterberg region of Limpopo in South Africa

Lephalale also has a large farming community with cattle, tobacco, watermelons, table grapes and vegetables being farmed extensively.

There are many activities and attractions in and around Lephalale including the game- and trophy-hunting farms. The Mokolo Dam is popular with anglers and the D’Nyala Nature Reserve is an excellent picnic, hiking and birding spot.

Lephalale is rich with coal which is mined by Exxaro at the Grootegeluk coal mine. The Waterberg coalfield has an estimated resource of 75-billion tons of coal, which is 40% of South Africa’s remaining coal resource. The coalfield’s 75-billion tons are in 11 zones, which consist of bright coal with interbedded shale and dull coal, sandstone and carbonaceous shale.

However, only a relatively small part of the Waterberg coalfield is shallow enough to be accessed by open pit mining. The Eenzaamheid fault and the Daarby fault divide the Waterberg coalfield into open pit mineable and underground mineable resources.

Lephalale hosts two of South Africa’s power stations:

Eskom’s Matimba Power Station – Matimba, the Tsonga word for power, is designed to generate 4,000 MW and is the largest direct dry-cooled power station in the world. Coal is supplied to Matimba by means of a conveyor belt system from Grootegeluk mine. Eskom is commissioning a new power station called Medupi. Medupi will have a capacity of 4,800 MW by the time its last unit is commissioned c. 2018.

The Bushveld Festival takes place in early July. The festival includes cattle shows, a game auction, horse jumping, dog shows, agricultural activities, a three-day 4×4 competition, a game farms expo, hunting opportunities, bird and tree identification competitions, traditional food, live music, a beer tent and huge camp fires.

This river and its tributaries rise in the western part of the Waterberg (between 1200 and 1600 metres above mean sea level). It originates in a flattish, open area with numerous koppies and flows through a steep gorge emerging above the town of Vaalwater. Here the river flows through a relatively flat area until it enters the Mokolo Dam. From there, it flows through another gorge before entering the Limpopo Plain, near the junction with the Rietspruit. From this point, the Mokolo River flows through flat sandy areas until it reaches the Limpopo River. Fish species found in the Mokolo include:

The area is dominated by mixed bushveld and sour bushveld (sourveld). In the Limpopo Plain, arid sweet bushveld occurs while pockets of north-eastern mountain sourveld occur in higher lying areas to the south of the catchment.

Situated 10 km from the town of Lephalale, this resort gets its name from the massive nyala tree that is characteristic of the area, and is also the southernmost habitat of the famous baobab tree. D’nyala boasts a diversity of game which includes some 65 mammal species such as nyala, white rhinoceros, giraffe, waterbuck, tsessebe, oryx, eland, zebra, impala, caracal, African wildcat, brown hyena, black-backed jackal and leopard. The animals of D’nyala roam freely over the area including the vicinity of the chalets.

263 bird species have been identified including waterfowl attracted to the area by the plains, a few examples include tawny eagle, kori bustard, red-billed oxpecker, black stork, black-winged pratincole, white-backed vulture, Cape vulture, marabou stork, yellow-billed stork, martial eagle, secretarybird, bateleur, lappet-faced vulture, golden-breasted bunting, yellow-fronted canary, bushveld pipit, Cape longclaw, long-tailed paradise-whydah, violet-eared waxbill, African quailfinch, lesser masked-weaver, red-billed buffalo-weaver, capped wheatear, fiscal flycatcher, Chestnut-backed sparrow-lark, rufous-naped lark, arrow-marked babbler and orange-breasted bush-shrike.

In the centre of D’nyala, is a VIP mansion, and a conference centre that is of historical significance. Adjacent to the Mokolo Nature Reserve of 4,600 hectares is the Mokolo dam, the biggest dam in the Limpopo Province and bordering for 6 km on the Mokolo river, flows out of this dam. Approximately 50 km to the south of Lephalale, this dam is well suited for water sports enthusiasts, campers and day visitors. The dammed up Mokolo river winds around mountains. It is on the northern slopes of the Waterberg mountains and has the advantage of both sweet veld as well as sour veld. Mokolo Dam into which the Mokolo River flows, is fairly large and water enthusiasts, campers, anglers and birders all regard the reserve as a sanctuary, set as it is against the beautiful mountains. Mokolo Nature Reserve is true bush, offering open savannah and more dense bushveld to the animals that roam here.

An area of the District Municipality was designated as a Waterberg Biosphere Reserve (Waterberg District Municipality, 2010). The biosphere reserve concept is aimed at achieving a balance between the pressures of the tourism industry, the need to generate direct benefits to local communities and conservation of the cultural and natural heritage assets.

The Waterberg Biosphere Reserve was declared a National Priority Area in terms of Section 18(1) of the National Environmental Management: Air Quality Act, 2004 (Act No. 39 of 2004). The area requires specific air quality management actions to address the negative impacts of the air quality as a proactive approach to support future sustainable development in the area (Waterberg District Municipality, 2010).

This reserve covers ±16,100 hectares and also adjoins the Glen Alpine Dam, which forms 11 km of the eastern boundary of Wonderkop Nature Reserve. It was proclaimed as a provincial nature reserve in June 1994. Environmental education is conducted in the areas adjacent to the reserve and the sustainable utilization of natural resources is promoted from which the surrounding communities could benefit.

A road upgrade project revealed in March 2012, that a large community of baboon spiders existed in the area. As these long lived species, golden-brown and burst-horned baboon spiders are protected under the National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act, 175 individuals along the Nelson Mandela Road and another 376 along the Kuipersbult Road, were captured.

An 800 ha portion in the south of the Manketti Game Reserve, some 5–10 km from the capture site, was identified as a suitable new habitat. Artificial burrows were created and the spiders were relocated. This project is considered unique as the large scale relocation of invertebrates is a rare occurrence.