The Kariba Dam was completed in 1959 and created the largest man-made reservoir in the world. The wall stands 128 metres high and runs 617 metres across the Kariba Gorge, generating up to 1,300 megawatts of electricity between the Zimbabwean and Zambian power stations.

The dam is the reason Lake Kariba exists — 226 kilometres long and in places up to 40 kilometres wide, the world’s largest water reservoir by volume. Siavonga, the town on the northern bank, grew up alongside it and remains the most developed point of access to the lake.