Lake Kariba is the planet’s largest man-made dam: 226 kilometres long and in places up to 40 kilometres wide, and the world’s largest water reservoir by volume. It supplies hydroelectric power to both Zambia and Zimbabwe, and its sheer scale can make it feel more like an ocean than a reservoir.

Sinazongwe and Siavonga are the main settlements, with Siavonga the more developed and the easier access point to the water. Houseboating and fishing are the mainstays, and fishing is permitted year-round here rather than seasonally as on Zambia’s other lakes and rivers. Several islands are scattered across the lake, Chete and Chinanka among the largest, and there is safari along the shoreline. The weather is mostly sunny and fine, warm even in midwinter.