Lake Kariba, nestled between Zambia and Zimbabwe in southern Africa, was created following the damming of the Zambezi River in the Kariba Gorge. This gorge is a narrow passage between hills of hard rock located 250 miles below Victoria Falls.
The lake is 810 miles upstream from the mouth of the river on the Indian Ocean. Spanning over 139 miles in length and up to 25 miles wide, Lake Kariba covers an area of 2,150 square miles and has a storage capacity of 44 cubic miles.
Its average depth is 95 feet, reaching a maximum of 318 feet. Consequently, it took five years to fill, from 1958 to 1963.
Lake Kariba is the world's largest man-made reservoir by volume, four times larger than the lake created by China's Three Gorges Dam. The colossal mass of water is thought to have induced seismic activity in the region, with over 20 earthquakes of magnitude five or above on the Richter scale recorded in the area.
The town of Kariba in Zimbabwe was established for the workers constructing the lake's dam. Other settlements, such as Binga village and Mlibizi in Zimbabwe, as well as Siavonga and Singazogwe in Zambia, have grown to accommodate people displaced by the damming of the river.
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The construction of the Kariba Dam, a concrete arch dam across the Zambezi, commenced in November 1956 and was completed in 1959. The structure stands 419 feet high, with a crest spanning 1,899 feet in length and a volume of 36.3 cubic feet.
The Kariba Dam, straddling Zambia and Zimbabwe, is a powerhouse of energy, churning out a staggering 6.7 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity each year, thanks to the efforts of the Kariba North Bank and South Bank companies. Its construction was no small feat, requiring the relocation of over 30,000 Batonka tribespeople in Zambia and orchestrating the mass evacuation of wildlife in an operation dubbed "Operation Noah".
Initially met with resistance, the dam eventually won favour for powering Zambia's booming copper sector with affordable electricity.
As the dam filled, nutrient-rich waters from submerged vegetation fostered a fertile layer on the new lake bed, leading to a thriving ecosystem. The lake now teems with life, including kapenta fish, Nile crocodiles, and hippos.
Birds such as fish eagles and cormorants, along with herds of elephants and other big game like lions, cheetahs, leopards, and buffaloes, are drawn to the lake's shores. Matusadona National Park, once a sanctuary for rhinos, has seen its populations dwindle due to poaching.
In light of this natural bounty, Zambia and Zimbabwe are keen to boost tourism along their lake stretches.
Following severe droughts and increased evaporation, the lake's live storage—the water available for power generation—plummeted to a mere 1.1 metres in early September, as reported by the Zambezi River Authority (ZRA). This equates to just 7.7 % of its usable storage.
Consequently, Zambia was hit with 21-hour power cuts from September 14 last year, when the hydropower plant was scheduled to be shut down. This marked only the second time the power plant had been halted since its completion, with the first instance occurring on the Zimbabwean side in November 2022.
The lake's lowest recorded live storage was reached in December 2022, when it stood just 10 centimetres above its minimum operating level, representing a meagre 0.8% of usable storage.
These severe droughts have been attributed to the El Nino weather patterns and extreme weather conditions.
