Lake Kariba

Kariba Dam was built on the Zambezi river from 1955-1959 at the cost of 86 lives. Some of whom were buried in the wall while the concrete was being poured. The dam floods 280km upriver and has a surface area of 5400 square kilometres making it the largest dam in the world until it was superseded by the Aswan Dam in Egypt. During the flood several thousand animals were rescued from the hills that became islands and the disappeared beneath the water. The rescue effort was named Operation Noah.

I first went to Kariba with my family when I was 8 years old. We stayed at the Air Force chalets which were built on the shore of the lake. There was thick indigenous bush on the other three sides. We also brought our cook to prepare meals. One morning I, my younger sister and baby brother, began to play on a fallen Mopani tree. After a few minutes I noticed movement in the bushes near us. We were slowly being surrounded by baboons. My Dad came out the chalet and started yelling for us to come inside. We all ran inside until the baboons had gone on their way.

 Later on I went fishing in a small canoe with the indigenous caretaker. I caught a tiny bream which I was very pleased with. While we were fishing a green mamba swam past us. I often wondered what I would have done if I had hooked the snake instead of the fish.

In the evenings my parents liked to go to the casino at Kariba Town. One night we came back in the rain along the power line track when a lioness ran in front of the car. It got a fright and tucked its tail between its legs and ran off into the Jesse Bush on the side of the road. That was the first time I had seen a wild lion.

A couple of days later our cook got the giggles because the caretaker told him the news that an African man had been eaten by some lions that night and all that was left was his hands. Our cook was actually very nervous but the only way he could express himself was to laugh about it. He was very relieved when we left a few days later. I loved Kariba so much I wanted to live there.