Kariba Tour Article 2:
Another 1960 School Magazine Article.
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"The Wonderful Wall -- Kariba
The Mighty Mousetrap" (Kariba) was what tribes had called the great Kariba Gorge. Many had dreamt of taming the wild Zambezi, but it was not until March 1, 1955, that Lord Malvern, Prime Minister of the Federation decided to go ahead with a scheme. Northern and Souther Rhodesia could not agree upon the alternate use of the Kafue River, as a source of hydro-power; but the problem was solved by M. Andre Coyne -- a French consultant on dam building.
In 1955 a position "X" marked the spot where the great wall was to be built. This spot was approximately three hundred miloes east of the Victoria Falls and about thirty miles west of Beit Bridge. The contract was granted to a combined Italian firm --Impresit. Until then, the Federation and Nyasaland had depended entirely upon electricity supplied by power stations using much coal. Now this power is obtained more economically by taming the water of the Zambezi. During the construction of the wall, many problems confronted the workers, but, none seemed too great.
During the dry seesaon of 1956 a coffer dam was built. Before work could commence roads had to be constructed through the trackless bush. Imported material entered the country through Beira and was transported to the nearest existing railway -- ninety miles away. The building sites were often under water and labour had to be imported from Nyasaland. A Kariba township with houses, hotels, shops, Post Office and beautiful Catholic Church was established.
The human problem was one of the greatest to be faced. The primitive tribes inhabiting the Zambezi Valley were difficult to move. Guardians of the river monster, Nyamiyami, would not move until they had seen their homes flooded. Altogether 102,000 people had to be resettled at a cost of approximately four million pounds.
The climate was humid and unhealthy and labourers often worked at temperatures of 110 degrees F at 10 a.m. Doctors proved that many workers lost one gallon of sweat per day.
After the human problem came the great animal problem. Once the dense tropical forest had been cleared, the buffalo, elephant, antelope, hippo and small game had to be rescued. The game had to be transferred or "steered" to the nearest mainland. These rescue operations were often spoken of as "Operation Noah" or "Animal Dunkirk".
Duing 1957, the level of the water rose sixty-six feet and flooded the coffer dam, and again in 1958 it rose to one hundred-and-sixteen feet above the water level. These water levels, which caused greta destruction, were the highest recordedsince the white man had come to that region. After these tragic events and African strike once again hindered construction.
1959 was a year of completionof the project. On May 17, 1960, the project was formlly opened by Her Majesty, Queen Elizaneth, the Quen Mother. The arch of the dam is four hundred and twenty feet high and each concrete sluice is able to hold a three-and-a-half-storeyed building. The length of the crest of Kariba is one thousand, nine humdred fet long. It supports four lanes of traffic. The totl cost of the project is estimated at one hundred and thirteen million pounds.
While work continues at Kariba, it has experienced both tragic and exciting periods and the Italian workers can but be admired for their unfailing perseverance in the construction of the World's Most Wonderful Wall.
JANET PARKER, Xc
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