The pictures of the dam are not very impressive. In fact, it's impossible to restore on picture the impression it makes when you see it for real !

Anyway, to reach the Kariba lake dam from Lusaka, drive to Siavonga through the scenic Zambezi Rift Valley, a two and a half hour drive on one of Zambia's better roads. Take the road to Chirundu, the old ferry, and turn right eighteen km before the Zimbabwe border.

Anytime spent in Siavonga area should include a visit to the Dam Wall if nothing but to witness the size of this awesome structure. There is a display at the entrance of the bridge describing the building of the wall and the statistics involved. Note that taking pictures from the Zimbabwean side is not permitted (only God knows why) and that you've better to comply with this stupid rule, except if you are interested by the live condition in a Zimbabwean jail !

The wide bridge offers ample room for walking on either side. The contrasting views the vast lake stretching to infinity on the one side and the sheer drop to the gorge on the other side, is breathtaking.

Lake Kariba is over 220 kilometers (140 mi) long and up to 40 kilometers (20 mi) in width. It covers an area of 5,580 square kilometers (2,150 sq mi) and its storage capacity is an immense 185 cubic kilometers (44.4 cu mi). The mean depth of the lake is 29 meters (95 ft); the maximum depth is 97 meters (320 ft). The enormous mass of water (approximately 180,000,000,000,000 kilograms, or 180 peta-grams [200 billion tons]) is believed to have caused induced seismicity in the seismically active region, including over 20 earthquakes of greater than 5 magnitude on the Richter scale.

Lake Kariba is an artificial inland sea that covers 282km² of the Zambezi Valley. It is the continent’s third largest dam after Aswan in Egypt and Cahora Bassa on the same river in neighbouring Mozambique.

It is something of a feat of both engineering and human endeavour that the dam was built at all. The resident Batonka Tonga people who had lived in this neck of the woods for centuries were to be displaced by the dam in the 1950s. They appealed to the Zambezi River God, the fish-headed, serpent-tailed Nyaminyami, whose image, like the Zimbabwe bird, is another popular motif in local curios.

Christmas Eve 1955 saw the beginning of a chain of climactic events that would see the drowning of the original town, the swamping of the dam’s foundations and breaching of the main coffer dam, the collapse of the suspension bridge across the Zambezi and the death of 86 of the 10,000-strong Italian construction company.

The culmination came in March when a flood, the size of which is only seen once in a thousand years, swept 18 workers into the wet concrete of the unfinished wall. Not all of the bodies were recovered.

Against these odds, the dam to produce hydroelectricity for use by both Zimbabwe and bordering Zambia, was completed in December 1958 and officially opened by the Queen Mother, a year-and-a-half later.

Problems continued to arise including the spread of Kariba weed across the lake and prolonged years of drought which saw hydroelectric capacity diminish to insufficient levels. There has been talk of a second dam to supplement the dry years. Nyaminyami’s previous displeasure seems to have been forgotten but the Batonka believe that his anger is not yet spent.

Another notable achievement at the time of the dam’s construction was Operation Noah. Rupert Fothergill, after whom Fothergill Island in Matusadona National Park is named, led one of the biggest wildlife rescue missions since Noah and his Ark.

His team tracked, captured and relocated up to 7.000 animals including lions and rhinos to save them from the rising waters. Kariba is a singular example of the co-habitation of man and animal. It is now a very popular resort lake with an airport, harbour, lakeside hotels and lodges, huge houseboats, marinas, water-sports and fishing.

It is also a commercial fishing centre with the crane-like kapenta rigs illuminating the night-time waters of the lake. At the same time, the dam attracts vast quantities of game, both big and small. Huge Nile crocodiles inhabit the lake as do many hippos and it is not uncommon to stumble into a herd of elephants on the lake shore or while walking through the bush.

Summer is very hot and humid. I went there in October ! October is known as “the suicide month” and there are no quick, cooling dips into the water from the shore. Crocodiless, hippos and bilharzia infest the shoreline and mosquitoes are rife.

The dam was an initiative of the Federation existing at the time between British ruled Northern and Southern Rhodesia (now Zambia and Zimbabwe) and Nyasaland (Malawi). To dam the great Zambezi floodplain was in many ways a hopeful leap into the future. Vast areas of forest and scrub would be inundated. Literally thousands of wild animals would lose their habitats and, more importantly, the local villages would have to be relocated. Analysis of the economic advantages convinced the authorities that the ultimate benefit to the people would outweigh the loss of wildlife and disturbance to people's lives.

The vegetation was strip cleared and burnt, making the lake rich in chemicals from the fired wood and the considerable number of remaining trees provided an essential habitat for many creatures that found their way into the lake.

Building the dam wall began in the late 1950s. Well over a million cubic metres of concrete was poured into the 36.6 metre high wall with a thickness of over twenty four metres to sustain the pressure of nearly ten million litres of water passing through the spillway each second. At the end of 1958, the sluice gates were closed and in 1963 the maximum level was reached.

The Zambezi River rises in north western Zambia and its catchment area covers 1 352 000 square kilometers and eight countries, namely Angola, Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. It enters the Indian Ocean in Mozambique at Quelimane.

It flows for some 2 650 kilometers from its source to the Indian Ocean. It is the fourth largest river in Africa flowing into the Indian Ocean.

Kariba Dam is located approximately halfway down the Zambezi River.

Operation "Noah"
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As the dam began to fill, it became evident that thousands of animals were being stranded on islands. Appeals were made and money raised to buy boats and equipment for their rescue and relocation.

This project became known as Operation Noah. It was a mammoth task and beset by numerous hazards. Submerged trees and stumps threatened the hulls of the boats and on the islands there were huge concentrations of snakes including the deadly black mamba. Even so, many were successfully rescued.

One story tells of a game ranger who climbed a tree in a swimming costume and gloves to catch a mamba with a nosed stick. Another tells of the rescue of a black rhino stranded on a small island. The animal was pursued for several hours until eventually it was driven past a marksman with a crossbow loaded with a muscle relaxing dart.

Suitably sedated, the rhino was rolled on to a sledge, dragged ashore and loaded onto a raft buoyed up by eighteen petrol drums. Raft, rhino and all were then towed to the mainland some twelve miles away. An astonishing forty-four rhinos were rescued in this way. In all some 7000 animals were saved during operation Noah !

(Thanks to Wikipedia, the Zambian Tourism Office and Maïko Bia for the text)