The small town of Kariba Heights is carefully situated 600 meters above the lake and primarily services the population who come here for boating, fishing & to enjoy lakeside holidays.
KARIBA & OPERATION NOAH

The small town of Kariba Heights is carefully situated 600 meters above the lake and primarily services the population who come here for boating, fishing & to enjoy lakeside holidays. Kariba town exists because the Lake exists and the Lake has an interesting history …

Way back in the 1930’s the idea of a hydroelectric scheme on the mighty Zambezi was formed but it was not until 1950 that the work began. New settlements were made for the BaTonga people of the valley though they hated to leave their homes and abandon Nyaminyami, their River God. In 1959 the 128m high concrete dam wall was complete and the plains began to flood. Today Lake Kariba stretches for 290km, is 42kms wide at its widest point and it has an average depth of 18 meters. One of Africa’s most ambitious projects came to life when Queen Elizabeth officially started the generators on May 16th, 1960.

The Zambezi River is Tiger Fish territory; the Tiger is a renowned fighting fish that can reach 15kg in weight. Lake Kariba supports an annual Tiger fishing tournament that is immensely popular and centers around the town of Kariba.

Operation Noah came about just after the dam was completed and the waters began to rise. The aim was to rescue wild animals that became trapped on high ground as the waters rose. By the end of 1959 over 6,000 animals (elephant, antelope, rhino, lion, leopard, zebra, warthog, small birds and even snakes) had been rescued. They were trapped, darted and transported by boat to safety and set free again. Some swam to safety after being herded into the waters; others such as rhino were trussed to rafts and taken to the lake edges.

For game viewing at Lake Kariba head to the Matusadona National Park across the Lake or the Kuburi Wilderness Area just east of the town.