Kariba Dam, concrete arch dam across Zambezi River at Kariba Gorge, on the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe. Construction of the dam started on Nov. 6, 1956, and completed in 1959. The structure is 420 ft (128 m) high with a crest 1,899 ft (579 m) in length and a volume of 1,350,000 cubic yards (1,032,000 cubic m). The dam creates Lake Kariba, and it supplies some 6,700,000,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity each year, generated by Kariba North Bank and South Bank companies (Zambia and Zimbabwe, respectively).
Its creation required the resettlement of over 30,000 Batonka tribes people of Zambia and the evacuation of thousands of wild animals (“Operation Noah”). Some Africans initially opposed construction of the dam, seeing it as a symbol of the unpopular Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, which break down into Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and Zambia in 1963. Later, the dam was accepted because of the inexpensive electric power it furnishes to Zambia’s prosperous copper industry.
