History of Lake Kariba
The word Kariba comes from the Tonga word Kariwa. The wall itself is built in the Kariba gorge, where in fact there was a large whirlpool on the exact spot, and the locals believed that this is where the River God Nyaminyami lived.
The dam wall is 128 meters high and 579 meters along the crest of the arch wall, the result of this construction was the rising of the dry height of the river by more than 100 meters!
The Lake gained world wide publicity more than once in the past, firstly in her infancy for the “Operation Noah” involving saving thousands of animals, reptiles and birds from the rising waters, then the introduction of sardines for commercial use caused attention again, but one thing is outstanding and enduring which is the fact that Kariba was the largest man-made Lake in the world at the time of her completion.
The Lake is world renowned as the premier hunting ground for the famous Tiger fish as well!
The town of Kariba was one of Rhodesia’s newest towns at the time and it began in February of 1956 to house the employees of the company constructing the wall, today the town has a International airport, banks, resorts, campsites, and a harbour.
Financing for the Lake totalled 80 million US $. Many lives were lost during this time, and throughout construction in the late 50’s. The Lake now provides the surrounding communities with year round water supply and commercial fishing opportunities. Which the Government of the time tried to promote with the Tonga people, but the distribution of fish made it difficult for them to travel great distances with their limited vessels.
The new ecosystem has taken time to settle down due to the incredible changes that took place, from a flowing river to a massive inland sea, (it was described this way because of scientific research around the Lake by the University of Rhodesia discovering many species in the new Lake which were believed to be only marine animals, such as the shrimps, mussels, eels, crustaceans, and plankton, at the time was thought to have only existed in the oceans of the world).
Now the environment is massive and provides many species with the environment that they need, thus thriving due to the Lake’s existence, while other species have suffered, with some of the best variety of birds and fish, to the mammals, and reptiles! One of the major industries on the Lake are the Kapenta(sardines) fishing rigs, although not as busy as they were in the early years they still operate.
