Lake Chivero is a reservoir on the

Manyame River The Manyame River, also known as Panhame and formerly as Hunyani is a river located in Zimbabwe and Mozambique, and a tributary of the Zambezi River The Zambezi River (also spelled Zambeze and Zambesi) is the fourth-longest river in Africa ...

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 ...

. It was formerly called Lake McIlwaine in memory of Sir Robert McIlwaine, a former judge of the High Court and founder of

Southern Rhodesia Southern Rhodesia was a landlocked self-governing British Crown colony in southern Africa, established in 1923 and consisting of British South Africa Company (BSAC) territories lying south of the Zambezi River. The region was informally kn ...

's (later

Rhodesia Rhodesia (, ), officially from 1970 the Republic of Rhodesia, was an unrecognised state in Southern Africa from 1965 to 1979, equivalent in territory to modern Zimbabwe. Rhodesia was the ''de facto'' successor state to the British colony of S ...

's, now Zimbabwe's) soil and water conservation movement. Located southwest of

Harare Harare (; formerly Salisbury ) is the capital and most populous city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of 940 km2 (371 mi2) and a population of 2.12 million in the 2012 census and an estimated 3.12 million in its metropolitan ...

, it provides the main water supply for the city. The lake was constructed over two-and-a-half years and opened to the public in 1952. The dam wall is 400 metres long. The water is also used for irrigation purposes and commercial fishing. Some of the fishes that are found in the lake include common

grass carp The grass carp (''Ctenopharyngodon idella'') is a species of large herbivorous freshwater fish in the family Cyprinidae, native to the Pacific Far East, with a native range stretching from northern Vietnam to the Amur River on the Sino-Russian ...

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 ...

, black bream,

Clarias gariepinus ''Clarias gariepinus'' or African sharptooth catfish is a species of catfish of the family Clariidae, the airbreathing catfishes. Distribution They are found throughout Africa and the Middle East, and live in freshwater lakes, rivers, and swa ...

, yellowfish, and green-headed bream. The lake and hinterland are protected as part of

Lake Chivero Recreational Park Lake Chivero Recreational Park is a protected area around Lake Chivero within the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Estate. History of the park The park was proclaimed as a national park in 1952, and changed to its current status in 1975. Features Flo ...

. The lake was designated a

Ramsar Ramsar may refer to: * Places so named: ** Ramsar, Mazandaran, city in Iran ** Ramsar, Rajasthan, village in India * Eponyms of the Iranian city: ** Ramsar Convention concerning wetlands, signed in Ramsar, Iran ** Ramsar site, wetland listed in ...

wetland of international importance on 3 January 2013. Remembrance Island is a small island in the reservoir.GEOnet Names Server (GNS)
/ref>

References

Chivero Harare Geography of Mashonaland West Province Zvimba District Ramsar sites in Zimbabwe {{Zimbabwe-geo-stub

See also

References