The Madimbo Corridor is a northern military base in the Limpopo Province that borders Zimbabwe in South Africa, and is contiguous with the Matshakatini Nature Reserve. It is controlled by the South African National Defence Force and used as a military training zone and a cordon sanitaire.
History
Pre-20th century In the 19th century, local residents began to encounter other groups of people in Africa, mainly commercial hunters. For a time, the hunters and settlers were able to coexist through trades of ivory and skin. However, these relations began to deteriorate with the increase of sport hunting and the introduction of land policies in the late 1890s.
Colonial expansion Beginning in 1871, colonists sold land to cattle farmers as a means to expand their control of the area.
Establishment to present day In 1969, the base was established after the forced removal of villages in the area.: "In 1969, local villages along the Limpopo River were forcibly moved to make way for the military occupation of a strip of land in the northernmost part of South Africa." During this time, the base served under the South African Defence Force as one of the country's protective barriers from attacks by neighboring countries.: "By the 1970s, the Madimbo corridor and Pafuri triangle were cleared of people with Pafuri being incorporated into the KNP and the corridor occupied by the then South Africa Defence Force (SADF)." Additionally, in 1992, the corridor was designated as the Matshakatini Nature Reserve.
Beginning in 1994, at the end of South Africa's apartheid government, actions were taken to move relocated villages back to the corridor.
Climate The Madimbo Corridor experiences an arid to semi-arid climate, with extended dry seasons and shorter wet periods. Its summer temperatures range between a mimimum temperature of 17.4–31 °C (63.3–87.8 °F), with winter temperatures ranging within no less than 10–24 °C (50–75.2 °F). At most, the corridor's annual maximum temperatures have been recorded to range from 38.1 °C (100.6 °F) to 44 °C (111 °F).: "The annual maximum temperatures in Madimbo Corridor ranged from 38.1 °C to as high as 44.0 °C."
The corridor's rainfall has been recorded to be an average of 450 mm (17.7 in) per year. However, studies in 2024 have found a lower amount, ranging from 201–400 mm (7.9–15.7 in), due to the effects of climate change in the region. The area has a maximum annual precipitation of 460 mm (18.1 in).: "The Madimbo Corridor could be described as an arid low rainfall area with a maximum of 460mmpa."
Agriculture
The Madimbo Corridor uses a semi-arid irrigation scheme.
References Citations
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