Zambezi River and Kariba Dam

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News: A 500MW Floating Solar Plant is being designed to be installed at Kariba Dam to boost power supply in Zimbabwe.

About Zambezi River and Kariba Dam

Zambezi River
Source: koamnewsnow

About Zambezi River

  • The Zambezi River is the fourth-longest river in Africa (after Nile, Congo, Niger).
  • Origin: It starts off in a shallow depression in Angola’s southern highlands, at the source of a river called the Lungwebungu.
  • Length: It has a total length of 3,421 km.
  • Drains into: It drains into the Indian Ocean via a 100-km-wide delta.
  • Countries covered: It flows through Angola, Zambia, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique.
  • Tributaries: The main tributaries of the Zambezi River include the Shire, Kafue, Luangwa, Kabompo, and Cuando (Kwando) rivers.
  • Waterfalls: The river is known for several notable waterfalls, including Victoria Falls, one of the world’s largest waterfalls, and the Chavuma Falls on the Zambia-Angola border.
  • Famous Dams: Cohara Bassa and Kariba Dams

About Kariba Dams

  • Location: The Kariba dam is a double curvature concrete arch dam in the Kariba gorge of the Zambezi river basin between Zambia and Zimbabwe.
  • Size: It stands about 128 m tall and stretches around 617 m in length.
  • It was constructed between 1956 and 1959.
  • It has created Lake Kariba, the largest man-made lake in the world by reservoir storage capacity, holding 181 cubic kilometers of water. 
  • It can generate around 1,700W of electricity for Zambia and Zimbabwe.
    • Each country has its own power station, one on the north bank and one on the south bank of the dam.
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