File:Lake_Kariba.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
Key facts
- Lake type
- Hydroelectric reservoir
- Catchment area
- 663,000 km (256,000 sq mi)
- Basin countries
- Zambia , Zimbabwe
- Max length
- 223 km (139 mi)
- Max width
- 40 km (25 mi)
- Surface area
- 5,580 km (2,150 sq mi)
- Average depth
- 29 m (95 ft)
- Max depth
- 97 m (318 ft)
- Water volume
- 180,000,000,000 cubic metres (43 mi )
- Surface elevation
- 479 metres (1,572 ft)
- Islands
- Chete Island , Sekula , Chikanka
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
Show 12 more facts
- inflows
- Munyati River
- Commons category
- Lake Kariba
- topic's main category
- Category:Lake Kariba
- outflows
- Zambezi River
- basin country
- Zimbabwe
- watershed area
- 663000
- residence time of water
- 3
- different from
- Kariba
- vertical depth
- 29
- drainage basin
- Zambezi Basin
- volume as quantity
- 180
- impounded by
- Kariba Dam
via Wikidata · CC0
~3 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Lake Kariba is the world's largest artificial lake and reservoir by volume. It lies 1,300 kilometres (810 mi) upstream from the mouth of the Zambezi river on the Indian Ocean, along the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe. Lake Kariba was filled between 1958 and 1963 following the completion of the Kariba Dam at its northeastern end, flooding the Kariba Gorge on the Zambezi River.
The Zimbabwean town of Kariba was built for construction workers on the lake's dam, while some other settlements such as Binga village and Mlibizi in Zimbabwe and Siavonga and Sinazongwe in Zambia have expanded to house people displaced by the damming of the river.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Lake Kariba” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.