The building of the Kariba Dam was probably the only worthwhile achievement of the ill-fated Federation of the Rhodesias and Nyasaland.

Kariba Gorge was situated in a remote and seldom visited area and before the project could begin, an access road has to be built, as did a town to house workers on the project.

Beset by continual disasters, ten thousand men laboured in appalling conditions for four years and eighty seven of them lost their lives to the project. In December 1958, the Zambezi River was stopped in its tracks and Lake Kariba was born.

In this talk, I outline the history of the gorge and tell of many of the traumas and triumphs that took place. Building the dam wall and power stations on both banks of the river was a staggering achievement in the nineteen fifties and I describe the displacement of local people as well as the rescue of thousands of animals, marooned by the rising water in Operation Noah. I also give statistics that will make the average person's hair curl.

Kariba is more than a mere dam. It is a brave new world wherein the entire ecology of a vast tract of countryside was changed for ever.