STAYING ON A HOUSE BOAT

Besides from staying in affordable accommodation in lodges or hotel, you can try something different and stay on a house boat. If you are staying on a Houseboat, then activities are not too dissimilar to being at one of the safari lodges.... Every houseboat has at least one tender boat and that boat is used for excursions, whether it be fishing, game viewing, bird-watching or just cruising. On the main boat you can chill out and take in the wonderful scenery. Most of the boats have either a pool or a jacuzzi for those stifling hot summer months Read more

  VISIT ZIMBABWE SIDE OF LAKE KARIBA

A day trip on the Zimbabwe side is more than worth it. There is a small curio market, where the talented Kariba ladies sell their bright Africa print table cloths, crochet garments, hats and trinkets along with the intriguing and unique... Nyami-Nyami walking stick, which tells the whole story of the Kariba dam in one carving. If you don’t have you own transport, then taxis are available.
The other is to get up to the Kariba heights, this is a bit of a winding drive right to the summit where the Kariba club used to operate. The panoramic view from here, over the lake and across to the Matusadona hills, is just out of this world. The Santa Barbara church which was built in memorial to the construction workers who died whilst building the dam, is there and is also worth a quick look. Kariba town is surrounded by Safari areas, so dangerous game such as elephant, buffalo and even lion are often encountered in and around parts of the town. One needs to be aware of this and be vigilant around these animals as they are wild even though at first they might appear tame. However, this is part of the attraction of Kariba and a game drive down the powerlines road can be very productive. Read more

  KARIBA DAM HISTORY

Kariba Dam is intrinsically linked to the town of Siavonga which lies on its shores. The building of the dam was known as one of the engineering wonders of the world. The concrete dam wall stands at 128 metres above the river bed.... It spans 617 metres across the Kariba gorge blocking the path of Africa's second largest river – the Zambezi River. The dam wall created an inland sea that stretches 280 kilometers in length and covering an area of over 5,500 square Kilometers, holding more than 180 billion tones of water.
The dam was an initiative of the Federation that existed between British-ruled Northern and Southern Rhodesia (now Zambia and Zimbabwe) and Nyasaland (Malawi). Vast areas of forest and scrub were lost, as were the habitats of thousands of wild animals. The local people had to be relocated. But analysis of the economic advantages convinced the authorities that the long term benefit to the people would outweigh these losses. It was a reflection of the dominance of colonial rule in Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia, that most of the rescued animals were relocated to the Zimbabwean side and most of the people, to the Zambian side.
In August 1955, the then Federal Government of Rhodesia and Nyasaland (Zambia, Zimbabwe and Malawi) called for tenders for the construction of the wall and power station. It was awarded to the Italian consortium Impresit on 16 July 1956. Kariba Dam was designed by the French engineer and inventor Andre Coyne, a specialist in arch dams. The build began in the late 1950s. Over a million cubic metres of concrete was poured into the 36.6 metre high wall with a thickness of over 24 metres. This was to sustain the pressure of about ten million litres of water that passes through the spillway each second. On the 16th of May 1960, the Kariba Dam was officially opened by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. The dam took four years to build between 1956 and 1960. At the end of the project the sluice gates were closed and in 1963 the maximum water level was reached. Read more