House boating on Lake Kariba, Zimbabwe

Sitting on the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe, Lake Kariba is one of the largest manmade lakes in the world, covering an area of over 5000 sq km, at it’s deepest it is 126m. The lake that is fed by three rivers, the main being the Zambezi, was created in the late 1950’s in conjunction with the Kariba dam to create electricity for the surrounding areas in both Zambia and Zimbabwe. Before the lake was created the land was farmlands and villages, all the residents were relocated to higher ground before the land was flooded.

Our boat was called “Osprey”, run by Lake Kariba Houseboats, slept a maximum of 26 people, some of the other boats can sleep from 12 – 40 people. Our first night was spent on the North shore of the lake, where we went for a sunset boat ride. The second night we moored on the Southern lake shore in the Matusadona National Park, from here we took dusk and dawn boat trips to see the wildlife, the park does have the big five and elephants are regularly spotted, although we didn’t see any. The lake is dotted with islands and on the South shore you can see mountains and forests.

In the shallows and along the lake shore you can see skeletons of trees still standing, from before the lake was created, where fish eagles have built their nests, you also see lots of cormorants fishing alongside pods of hippopotamus poking their heads out of the water and crocodiles lazing on the shores. We also saw a few impala and waterbuck on the shores. Most of the animals that live in and around the lake are native to the area, only a few species of fish were introduced when the lake was created. We didn’t swim in the lake because of the hippos and crocs, but the houseboat had a small cage at the back that was lowered into the water to allow you to cool off in the water. Just last week a crocodile took and killed a guy from the shore who was tying up his boat.