Flash forward a few years

Lake Kariba is Zambia's undiscovered Riviera ! It offers spectacular views, stunning sunsets, great fishing, boating opportunities and water sports, plus game viewing of the finest calibre.

This is Africa's largest man-made dam. It provides considerable electric power to both Zambia and Zimbabwe and supports a thriving commercial fishing industry. The sheer size of it makes one forget it's a dam, and in certain places it almost feels like an ocean.

There was great excitement in my household as I was invited by a couple of family friends to witness this amazing sight of 6 flood gates opening at Kariba Dam. This was quiet a historic event. The maximum flood gates ever opened was/is 4.

I was in my early teens at the time and I recall standing on the wall and you could feel the ground shaking. If my memory serves me correctly, they had all but the last section open on each gate as there were fears closing the gates against the massive flow. They were only opened for 48 hours. They did say at the time that they would never ever fully open all six again due to the volume and force of the water having gauged such a big hole below the wall which had to be repaired later.

I know there were reports of loads of fish washed up downstream stunned by the thunderous flow.

I also recall, we had an earth tremor which was attributed to the pressure of the water in the Zambesi Valley filling after the dam was completed. It was the most eerie feeling I’ve ever had, my bed shook and crept across the floor.

The video below gives you an insight at how powerful water really is with just 3 flood gates open. There is also some history about the building of the dam and the surrounding area.