Zimbabwe Adventure

http://www.africaafrica.co.za/ Self drive do it yourself Africa Adventures made easy! The complete ultimate travel guide on DVD to Zimbabwe available. A beer for breakfast. A beer for tee. What a pleasure life can be. Elephant, Hippo, water-buck adorned the shores, While late night a Lion roars. KARIBA. When build Lake Kariba was the largest man-made lake in the world.The lake formed, by the dam wall ? 281 km long, 32 km across at its widest point, and covering 5000 square km ? is now one of Zimbabwe?s major tourist attractions. Tourism, however, was far from the minds of those who, in 1950 pointed out that the growing demands for coal by existing thermal power stations in central Africa could not be met after 1960 by the railway system. A source of hydro-electric power would have to be found. The largest river in central Africa, the Zambezi, seemed the obvious source of water and the Kariba Gorge met all the criteria for a dam wall. The Gorge had been discovered by David Livingstone and its position as a bottleneck at end of the wide Zambezi Valley that lies downstream of Batoka Gorge was ideal. In 1954 work started on the dam wall.During the construction period over 70 people gave their lives for the project as floods washed away bridges. In early 1958 the river rose 35 meters above its winter level. In December 1958 the dam was completed and the lake started to fill up over a period of 5 years.During this time, small islands were formed by the rising water, trapping more than 6000 wild animals of all sizes. The Game Department set out to rescue these animals and Operation Noah was set in motion.This proved a mammoth task and by the end of 1959 over 6000 animals, elephant, buck, rhino, lion, leopard, zebra, snakes and numerous smaller animals and birds had been rescued. The local Batonka tribe, who also had to be re-settled, believes their river god, Nyaminyami, half-serpent, half-fish, would one day revenge the damming of the mighty Zambezi. Where can a sailor in shorts or bikini under warm sunshine, sail past elephant, buffalo, impala, waterbuck and hippo? Where is it usual to moor within sight of wild animals? Where can one fall asleep to the lullaby of chirping crickets and frogs, under the light of the moon and stars? Where can fisherman be thrilled by the roar of a marauding lion? Where are the sunsets so magnificent and the dawn so inspiring? Kariba of course, Kariba.