River
Molopo River
970 km from source to mouth · South Africa and Botswana.
South Africa and BotswanaFlows into Orange River3rd longest in South Africa
In numbers
Length
970km
Average flow
1.0m³/s
Basin
367,201km²
Drop
1,012m
from 1,462 m to 450 m
Countries
2
The journey
From source to mouth
970 km of river and 5 stops on the way: 2 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 1,462 m
- 35 kmMmabatho76,754 people
- 35 kmMafikeng77,110 people
- 49 kmSetumo Dam
- 66 kmDisaneng Dam
- 704 kmNossob Rivertributary
- 970 kmOrange Riverat 450 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in Southern Africa
At the mouth it carries 1.0 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 2,500 seconds. It drops from 1,462 m to 450 m, 1.0 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 367,201 km², about the size of DE. 1.1 million people live in it. Highest water: from March to April; lowest: from July to October. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.
Where to start
- MafikengLargest city on its banks · 77,110 people
- Mmabatho International Airport (MBD)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 12 km from the cityCar hire at MBD airport (Mafeking)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- From April to May and from August to OctoberThe best months to visit
Molopo River, month by month
Highest water: from March to April
Lowest water: from July to October. Best months to visit: from April to May and from August to October.
From about 28 m³/s in the lowest month to 360 m³/s in the highest. An estimate: the monthly flow is modelled from the lowest and highest months of WaterGAP (RiverATLAS, 1971–2000) and the rain and snow along the river (WorldClim). Dams change the real rhythm. The chip is the average air temperature; below it, the month's rain.
Plan the trip
Plan the trip: boat trips, a bed by the river, a car
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
The basin
Molopo River: the basin in numbers
316,424 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 1.1millionpeople live in the basin
- 4/km²people per km²
- 1,165maverage altitude of the basin
- 314mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 19.5°Caverage air temperature
- 11%protected areas
- 0.0km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 3% Cropland
- 69% Pasture
RiverATLAS (HydroATLAS v1.0, CC BY 4.0): land cover, people, protected areas, glaciers and dams over the whole basin upstream of the mouth.
Along the river
Molopo River: what you find on the way
- 2Weirs
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.7 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Molopo River in our other atlases
What our sister atlases know about the waterfalls on this river, the lakes it flows through, the beaches at its mouth, the mountains where it rises and the islands off its mouth.
1mountain at the sourcePeakyas
From space
The source and the mouth, seen from orbit
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX IT Services GmbH (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2016), CC BY 4.0. The glowing line is the river as drawn by RiverATLAS.
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
It flows into
Orange RiverSouth Africa2,200 km800 m³/sTributaries (1)
Also: Nossob River
Namibia
LesothoWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q546793) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Course, profile, basin | RiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed from the source to the mouth given by Wikidata |
| Flow | WaterGAP (RiverATLAS), 1971–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate along the river | WorldClim (RiverATLAS), 1970–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Towns, bridges, dams | Wikidata · CC0; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0 |
| Along the river | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Our other atlases | Peakyas — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0; HydroLAKES · CC BY 4.0; NOAA OISST |
Every source and licence is on the data sources page.
The family
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?
Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.
beaches
Find your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit 
lakes
Every lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit mountains
Every summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit 
waterfalls
Every waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit 
islands
Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Coming soonVisit 
rivers
Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.You are here
canyons
Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit