| The concrete
arch dam across the Zambezi River at Kariba Gorge, on the border
between Zambia and Zimbabwe was completed in 1959, the structure is 420
feet (128 m) high with a crest 1,899 feet (579 m) in
length and a volume of 1,032,000 cubic m. The dam creates
Lake Kariba, and it supplies some 6,700,000,000 kilowatt-hours
of electricity annually, generated by Kariba North Bank
and South Bank companies (Zambia and Zimbabwe, respectively). Its creation
required the resettlement of more than 30,000 Batonka tribespeople 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 dissolved into Rhodesia
(now Zimbabwe) and Zambia in 1963. Later, however, the dam was accepted
because of the inexpensive electric power it furnishes to Zambia's prosperous
copper industry. |
