Operation Noah: Re-Loaded, Sinazongwe

Period: April to November

This tour showcases the long after effects especially on wildlife after the construction of the Kariba Dam in the 60’s. We follow the remaining wildlife throughout the sanctuary islands of Lake Kariba’s Sinazongwe District where we also learn about the plight of the local people. It is also on this tour that we learn about the various social, cultural and economic activities of Sinazongwe District.

Operation Noah was a wildlife rescue operation on the Zambezi River, (then in Rhodesia, now the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe) lasting from 1958 to 1964. In the late 1950s, North and South Rhodesia (present-day Zambia and Zimbabwe) constructed the Kariba Dam hydroelectric power station across the Zambezi River, at the Kariba Gorge, about 400 km from Victoria Falls. The Kariba Dam mostly provided electric power to both countries, created Lake Kariba, the world’s largest man-made lake, and flooded the Kariba Gorge – home to thousands of native animals and the local Tonga people. In a wildlife rescue operation lasting 5 years, over 6000 animals were rescued and relocated to the mainland.