Lake Kariba was created in 1958 when the Kariba Dam impounded the Zambezi River. The resulting lake covers 5,580 square kilometres — the largest man-made lake in the world by volume. Dead trees still stand in the water, bleached white by decades of submersion, their roots long dissolved. The effect at sunset, when the sky turns amber and the trees turn black against it, is one of the most photographed images in Zimbabwe travel.
The photographs don’t prepare you for the silence.
The defining Kariba experience is the houseboat safari. A houseboat — ranging from basic wooden craft to fully air-conditioned floating lodges with sun decks and gourmet kitchens — moors in isolated bays around the lake’s Zimbabwean shore. A tender boat allows game drives along the bank and stops at fishing spots.
What you find in the bays changes with the season. In the dry season, elephants come to the lake shore to drink and to feed on the aquatic vegetation — large herds wading belly-deep into the shallows. Buffalo herds. Hippo schools. And the fishing: Lake Kariba’s tigerfish are among the most highly-rated freshwater game fish in the world, known for their speed and aggression.
When the Kariba Dam was completed in 1958 and the lake began to rise, a rescue operation called Operation Noah saved over 6,000 animals from the flooding valley — everything from baboons and warthogs to black rhino and elephant. The rescued animals were relocated to what became Matusadona National Park on the lake’s southern shore. The operation took four years and involved teams of rangers working from boats across the rising water.
Matusadona is now one of Zimbabwe’s national parks and can be accessed from the lake by houseboat. It provides the combination of lake scenery with traditional game viewing on land.
Kariba town is the main departure point. It’s connected to Harare by road (approximately four hours) and by short Air Zimbabwe flights. The lake experience requires a minimum of two nights on a houseboat to feel the full rhythm of it. Three or four nights is better.
We combine Kariba with Mana Pools in a Zambezi Valley itinerary that gives a full picture of Zimbabwe’s northern wilderness — by canoe, on foot, and from the water.
