The waters of the Limpopo flow sluggishly , with considerable silt content . Rudyard Kipling 's characterization of the river as the " great grey-green , greasy Limpopo River , all set about with fever-trees , " where the " Bi-Coloured Python Rock-Snake " dwells in the '' Just So Stories '' is apt . Rainfall is seasonal and unreliable : in dry years , the upper parts of the river flow for 40 days or less . The upper part of the drainage basin , in the Kalahari Desert , is arid but conditions become less arid further downriver . The next reaches drain the Waterberg Massif , a biome of semi-deciduous forest and low-density human population . About 14 million people live in the Limpopo basin . The fertile lowlands support a denser population . Flooding during the rainy season is an occasional problem in the lower reaches . During February 2000 heavy rainfalls ( due to a cyclone ) caused the catastrophic 2000 Mozambique flood
2000 Mozambique flood
2000 Mozambique flood
Limpopo River