Fishing in Mapungubwe National Park

Mapungubwe sits at the far northern tip of South Africa's Limpopo Province, where the Limpopo and Shashe Rivers meet at the convergence of three countries — South Africa, Botswana, and Zimbabwe.

The park's 280 square kilometres take in river valleys, sandstone ridges, and dry savanna, with the Limpopo forming its northern boundary. Water here is not abundant, but it defines the landscape.

The fishing anchor inside the park is Schroda Dam, a small storage reservoir built in 1993 and stocked with Southern African tigerfish (*Hydrocynus vittatus*) in 2003.

That stocking was part of a broader effort to preserve tigerfish from the headwaters of the Limpopo River. The dam is also home to bream. Fishing at Schroda is catch-and-release.

The tigerfish here drew scientific attention when researchers documented them breaching the surface to take barn swallows in flight — behaviour observed up to 20 times in a single day during a 15-day study period.

That mid-morning window, when swallows move across the open water, is worth knowing about. The Kolope River lies south of the Limpopo confluence within the park's broader landscape.

The Maloutswa area is known primarily as a birding hide near the forest camp, set in riverine forest. SANParks administers the park, and anglers should confirm current permit requirements directly with them before fishing.

Catch-and-release applies at Schroda Dam; check whether additional park-specific permits are required on top of any national licence. This is not a park you come to primarily for fishing.

But Schroda Dam holds genuine tigerfish in a remote, wildlife-rich setting — and the science done here changed what we know about what these fish are capable of.