Lake Kariba is the world's

largest artificial lake Large means of great size. Large may also refer to: Mathematics * Arbitrarily large, a phrase in mathematics * Large cardinal, a property of certain transfinite numbers * Large category, a category with a proper class of objects and morphisms (o ...

and

reservoir A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...

volume Volume is a measure of occupied three-dimensional space. It is often quantified numerically using SI derived units (such as the cubic metre and litre) or by various imperial or US customary units (such as the gallon, quart, cubic inch). The de ...

. It lies upstream from the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by th ...

, along the border between

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most cent ...

and

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

. Lake Kariba was filled between 1958 and 1963 following the completion of the

Kariba Dam The Kariba Dam is a double curvature concrete arch dam in the Kariba Gorge of the Zambezi river basin between Zambia and Zimbabwe. The dam stands tall and long. The dam forms Lake Kariba, which extends for and holds of water. Construction Th ...

at its northeastern end, flooding the

Kariba Gorge Kariba Gorge is a large, natural gorge through which flowed the Zambezi River on the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe, Africa. In 1959 the large double arch concrete Kariba Dam was completed, completely filling the gorge and creating the largest man- ...

on the

Zambezi River The Zambezi River (also spelled Zambeze and Zambesi) is the fourth-longest river in Africa, the longest east-flowing river in Africa and the largest flowing into the Indian Ocean from Africa. Its drainage basin covers , slightly less than hal ...

. The Zimbabwean town of Kariba was built for construction workers on the lake's

dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, a ...

, while some other settlements such as

Binga village {{Infobox settlement , official_name = Binga District , other_name = , native_name = , nickname = , settlement_type = Town , motto = , translit_lang1= , translit_lang1_ ...

and

Mlibizi {{Infobox settlement , name = Mlibizi , native_name = , native_name_lang = , settlement_type = Fishing Camp , image_skyline = Mlibizi Harbour in Zimbabwe.jpg , image_alt ...

in Zimbabwe and

Siavonga Siavonga is a town in the Southern Province of Zambia, lying on the north shore of Lake Kariba. It is Zambia's principal tourism centre for the lake, with accommodation, boating and fishing tours on offer. History Tongas are found in this reg ...

and

Sinazongwe Sinazongwe is a town in the Southern Province of Zambia, lying on the north shore of Lake Kariba. It was constructed in the 1950s as a local administrative centre, while its main industry now is kapenta fishing. It is also home to a lighthous ...

in Zambia have grown up to house people displaced by the rising waters.

Physical characteristics

Lake Kariba is over long and up to in width. It covers an area of and its storage capacity is . The mean depth of the lake is ; the maximum depth is . It is the world's

largest man-made reservoir by volume Large means of great size. Large may also refer to: Mathematics * Arbitrarily large, a phrase in mathematics * Large cardinal, a property of certain transfinite numbers * Large category, a category with a proper class of objects and morphisms (o ...

, four times as large as the

Three Gorges Dam The Three Gorges Dam is a hydroelectric gravity dam that spans the Yangtze River by the town of Sandouping, in Yiling District, Yichang, Hubei province, central China, downstream of the Three Gorges. The Three Gorges Dam has been the world ...

. The enormous mass of water (approximately 180,000,000,000,000 kilograms, or 180 petagrams 80 billion tons is believed to have caused

induced seismicity Induced seismicity is typically minor earthquakes and tremors that are caused by human activity that alters the stresses and strains on Earth's crust. Most induced seismicity is of a low magnitude. A few sites regularly have larger quakes, such a ...

in the seismically active region, including over 20

earthquake An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from ...

s of greater than 5 magnitude on the

Richter scale The Richter scale —also called the Richter magnitude scale, Richter's magnitude scale, and the Gutenberg–Richter scale—is a measure of the strength of earthquakes, developed by Charles Francis Richter and presented in his landmark 1935 ...

. The lake has several

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

s, including Maaze Island, Mashape Island, Chete Island, Sekula,

Sampa Karuma __NOTOC__ The Speech Assessment Methods Phonetic Alphabet (SAMPA) is a computer-readable phonetic script using 7-bit printable ASCII characters, based on the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). It was originally developed in the late 1980s for ...

, Fothergill, Spurwing, Snake Island, Antelope Island,

Bed Island A bed is an item of furniture that is used as a place to sleep, rest, and relax. Most modern beds consist of a soft, cushioned mattress on a bed frame. The mattress rests either on a solid base, often wood slats, or a sprung base. Many beds ...

, and Chikanka.

Ecology

During the filling-up phase of the lake, the water was high in nutrients coming from decomposing, inundated vegetation, creating a thick layer of fertile soil on land that became the lake bed. As a result, the

ecology Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps wi ...

of Lake Kariba is vibrant. A number of

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...

species have been introduced to the lake, notably the

sardine "Sardine" and "pilchard" are common names for various species of small, oily forage fish in the herring family Clupeidae. The term "sardine" was first used in English during the early 15th century, a folk etymology says it comes from the Ital ...

-like

kapenta The Tanganyika sardine is known as kapenta or matemba in Zambia, Malawi and Zimbabwe (a related but different fish known as dagaa or ndaga is ''Rastrineobola argentea''). Kapenta is two species ( Lake Tanganyika sardine, ''Limnothrissa miodon'' ...

(transported from

Lake Tanganyika Lake Tanganyika () is an African Great Lake. It is the second-oldest freshwater lake in the world, the second-largest by volume, and the second-deepest, in all cases after Lake Baikal in Siberia. It is the world's longest freshwater lake. ...

), which now supports a thriving commercial

fishery Fishery can mean either the enterprise of raising or harvesting fish and other aquatic life; or more commonly, the site where such enterprise takes place ( a.k.a. fishing ground). Commercial fisheries include wild fisheries and fish farms, both ...

. Other inhabitants of Lake Kariba include

Nile crocodile The Nile crocodile (''Crocodylus niloticus'') is a large crocodilian native to freshwater habitats in Africa, where it is present in 26 countries. It is widely distributed throughout sub-Saharan Africa, occurring mostly in the central, eastern ...

s and

hippopotami The hippopotamus ( ; : hippopotamuses or hippopotami; ''Hippopotamus amphibius''), also called the hippo, common hippopotamus, or river hippopotamus, is a large semiaquatic mammal native to sub-Saharan Africa. It is one of only two extan ...

Gamefish Game fish, sport fish or quarry refer to popular fish pursued by recreational anglers, and can be freshwater or saltwater fish. Game fish can be eaten after being caught, or released after capture. Some game fish are also targeted commerciall ...

, particularly

tigerfish Tigerfish can refer to fish from various families, and derives from official and colloquial associations of these with the tiger (''Panthera tigris''). However, the primary species designated by the name "tigerfish" are African and belong to the ...

, which was among the indigenous species of the Zambezi river system, now thrive on the kapenta, which in turn encourages

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...

. Both Zambia and Zimbabwe are now attempting to develop the tourism industry along their respective coasts of Lake Kariba. Fish eagles,

cormorant Phalacrocoracidae is a family of approximately 40 species of aquatic birds commonly known as cormorants and shags. Several different classifications of the family have been proposed, but in 2021 the IOC adopted a consensus taxonomy of seven ge ...

s and other water birds patrol the shorelines, as do large numbers of

elephant Elephants are the largest existing land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant. They are the only surviving members of the family Elephantidae an ...

s and other big game species including lion, cheetah, leopard, buffalo and a myriad of smaller plains game species. The southern Matusadona National Park was once a haven for black and white rhinoceros, but recent poaching activity has dramatically reduced their numbers.

Protected areas

The portion of Lake Kariba which falls within Zimbabwe has been designated a Recreational Park within the

Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Estate Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (Zimparks) is an agency of the Zimbabwe government managing national parks. Zimbabwe's game reserves are managed by the government. They were initially founded as a means of using unproductive land ...

References

External links

"Lake Kariba"
Zambiatourism.com. Retrieved August 11, 2005.

World Commission on Dams. Retrieved August 11, 2005.
"Lake Profile: Kariba"
LakeNet. Retrieved August 11, 2005.

* {{Authority control Kariba Kariba Zambezi River Kariba Geography of Mashonaland West Province Geography of Southern Province, Zambia Zambia–Zimbabwe border

Physical characteristics

Ecology

Protected areas

See also

References

External links