Travel deep dive
Lake Kariba, an Inland Sea on the Zambezi
Lake Kariba stretches for more than two hundred kilometres along the Zambezi between Zimbabwe and Zambia, a lake made by the Kariba dam in the late 1950s and now an inland sea of bays, islands and mountain shores. Its Zimbabwean shore is lived on the water: houseboats cruise for days between the bays, anglers fish for tigerfish, and elephants and buffalo graze the grassy shoreline of Matusadona National Park, where the drowned trees of the old forest still stand in the water.
Updated 2026-10-08
Houseboats on the lake
The classic way to see Kariba is from a houseboat, hired with its crew from Kariba town or from Binga in the west, for cruises of a few days along the shore. The days pass with fishing, game-viewing from the boat and its tender, and evenings at anchor in a quiet bay, with the lights of the kapenta fishing boats spread across the water after dark.
Matusadona National Park
On the southern shore, Matusadona National Park runs from the lake up into the Matusadona mountains. Its grassy shoreline draws elephant, buffalo, waterbuck and impala to graze, with hippos and crocodiles in the shallows, and bare, silver trunks of the drowned forest stand far out in the water, perches for fish eagles and cormorants. Lodges on its shore and islands offer boat safaris, drives and guided walks.
Tigerfish and the water
Kariba is known for its tigerfish, a fierce, toothy fighter sought by anglers from boats along the drowned trees and river mouths, and for its bream and kapenta, grilled on board or dried in the sun. The lake holds crocodiles and hippos, so swimming is left to a boat's pool or a lodge's.
Kariba town and the dam
Kariba town spreads over the hills above the dam wall at the lake's eastern end, with views over the water, and the dam itself, a great curved wall in a gorge of the Zambezi, can be seen from a viewpoint above it. The town is the main base for houseboats and boats across to Matusadona, and a stop between Hwange and Mana Pools.
Getting there and the season
Kariba is reached by road from Harare in a long half-day, or by small aircraft, and lodges on the far shore are reached by boat or by air. The lake is visited all year; the dry months, from about May to October, bring the animals to the shore, while the hot months before the rains are the best for tigerfish.