'It can't be done', was the original verdict when the possibility of building a dam to harness the Zambesi was first raised. But in 1954 a committee decided it could and would be done, and today a dam 420 ft high, 1,900 ft long and carrying a 40-ft roadway links Southern and Northern Rhodesia. It will bring power to vast areas of Central Africa. Frank Clements, himself a Rhodesian, tells the story from the time of Livingstone to the present day: he describes how practical difficulties and ancient superstition were overcome; how roads were cut through the apparently impassable forest so that materials for the dam and the giant power installations, and workers of all nationalities, could be carried to the site; and how one of the most primitive African tribes was transferred from what is now the bed of a lake some 2,000 sq. miles in extent, to a new home.

Of outstanding interest is the chapter on 'Operation Noah', in which thousands of animals are being rescued from drowning and starvation as the lake grows. Includes a copy of our DVD The Kariba Story

 

 

 

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