Nyaminyami by Michelle Dee Clark

Man has had designs on the Zambezi River for the last hundred years. In 1914 the flow of the river was measured and just before the Second World War plans were drawn together to start work on a hydro electric scheme in the valley. A huge dam was proposed which would flood the valley forcing the BaTonga tribe, who had lived there for centuries, to lose their homelands.

Mechanical monstrosities moved in during 1950 carving a road through the unspoilt bush that would eventually become the dam wall. Up on higher ground new settlements were built for the BaTonga but before they left they swore that the river god Nyaminyami would destroy the dam. In 1958 near catastrophic floods crashed over the half built wall. 16 million litres of water per second washed away heavy machinery and some unlucky construction workers.

It is said that some of those who lost their lives were white men whose bodies mysteriously disappeared. A search was made for the bodies but to no avail. The search party went to talk to the BaTonga to enlist their help in finding them. The elders of the tribe claimed that Nyaminyami had taken them. The next day the search was widened to include the whole course of the river. News came that the relatives of the missing workers were due to visit the site and claim the bodies of their loved ones.

In desperation the search party went back to the BaTonga and asked what could be done. The elders said that the only way to find the bodies was to make a sacrifice to Nyaminyami to appease his wrath. That evening a white calf was slaughtered and floated upon the Zambezi River. The next morning the calf was gone and in its place were the bodies of the construction workers. The calf disappearing is not particularly mysterious indeed it could possibly have been taken by a crocodile of which there are many in the River. However the missing bodies being released by the mighty Zambezi and coming to the surface three days after they went under has never been explained. continued below

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Nyaminyami by Michelle Dee Clark

Early in 1959 the dam wall was completed and the plains were flooded. Many animals found themselves trapped by the rising tides and tried to escape to islands above the water. Rupert Fothergill a game ranger saw what was happening to the flora and fauna of the valley. He and some volunteers decided on a course of action to try and save as many species as possible.

"Operation Noah" rescued over 50000 animals and relocated them to areas around the flooded plain. The BaTonga people started to fish for profit in the newly formed Lake Kariba and prospered well.

Perhaps the river god saw his people flourishing and was satisfied because on the sixteenth of May 1960 Queen Elizabeth of Britain pushed a switch which started up the huge generators. To this day the Kariba Dam is still one of the most ambitious feats of engineering Africa has ever seen. If you go to Kariba now you can see the remains of trees almost fossilised breaking the surface of the aqua-marine water, a stark reminder of what once was.

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