<P> There is a lot of mining activity in the Limpopo River basin with about 1,900 mines, not counting about 1,700 abandoned mines . </P> <P> Vasco da Gama on his first expedition, was probably the first Europeans to sight the river, when he anchored off the mouth in 1498 . However, there has been human habitation in the region since time immemorial--sites in the Makapans Valley near Mokopane contain Australopithecus fossils from 3.5 million years ago . St Vincent Whitshed Erskine, later Surveyor General for South Africa, was the first European to travel down the length of the Limpopo river to its mouth in 1868 . </P> <P> The British author Rudyard Kipling popularized the Limpopo in his short story "The Elephant's Child", in the Just So Stories, in which he described "the great grey - green, greasy Limpopo River, all set about with fever - trees," where the "Bi-Coloured Python Rock - Snake" dwells . </P> <P> A Zambezi shark (Carcharhinus leucas) was caught hundreds of kilometres upriver at the confluence of the Limpopo and Luvuvhu Rivers in July 1950 . Zambezi sharks tolerate fresh water and can travel far up the Limpopo . </P>

Where does the limpopo river start and end