Year of Fresh Water – Zambia

Celebrating  the year of freshwater as declared by United Nation, Zambia Post issued the stamp set , one miniature sheet consist of three postage stamps, and one souvenir sheet on July 30 2003. The issue stamp depicts the fresh water sources of Zambia and Zimbabwe, such as: Victoria fall, Lake Kariba, Mana Pool, Cahora Bassa Dam

Victoria falls

The Victoria Falls or Mosi-oa-Tunya (the Smoke that Thunders), is a largest waterfall located in southern Africa on the Zambezi River between the countries of Zambia and Zimbabwe.This claim is based on a width of 1,708 metres and height of 108 metres, forming the largest sheet of falling water in the world. The rapid development of surround this place , has prompted the United Nations to consider revoking the Victoria Falls status as a World Heritage Site.

Cabora Bassa Dam

The Cabora Bassa Dam system is the largest hydroelectric scheme in southern Africa with the powerhouse containing five 415 MW turbines. It is one of the three major dams on the Zambezi river system, the others being Kariba and Itezhi-Tezhi. However, Itezhi-Tezhi is not on the main stream of the Zambezi, but on its tributary the Kafue River.

The dam began to fill in December 1974 after construction was commenced in 1969 by the Portuguese colonial government of Mozambique (Portugal), and is 171 m high by 303 m wide at the crest. Built in the first half of the 1970s when Mozambique was still a Portuguese territory, long stretches of the power transmission lines were sabotaged during 16 years of Mozambican Civil War which ended in 1992. The lake has reached a maximum length and width of approximately 250 km and 38 km respectively, flooding an area of 2,700 km² with an average depth of 20.9 m.

 

Lake Kariba

Lake Kariba is over 220 kilometers  long and up to 40 kilometers in width. It covers an area of 5,580 square kilometers and its storage capacity is an immense 185 cubic kilometers. It is the world's largest human-made reservoir, four times as large as the Three Gorges Dam.The portion of Lake Kariba which falls within Zimbabwe has been designated a Recreational Park within the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Estate.The lake is home to several islands, including Maaze Island, Mashape Island, Chete Island, Sekula, Sampa Karuma, Fothergill, Spurwing, Snake Island, Antelope Island, Bed Island Chikanka.

Mana Pools National Park

Mana Pools is a wildlife conservation area in northern Zimbabwe constituting a National Park. It is a region of the lower Zambezi River in Zimbabwe where the flood plain turns into a broad expanse of lakes after each rainy season. As the lakes gradually dry up and recede, the region attracts many large animals in search of water, making it one of Africa's most renowned game-viewing regions.

Originally Mana Pools are the four large permanent pools formed by the meanderings of the middle Zambezi. These 2,500 square kilometres of river frontage, islands, sandbanks and pools, flanked by forests of mahogany, wild figs, ebonies and baobabs. It was saved from a hydro-electric scheme in the early eighties which would have seen the flooding of this subsequent World Heritage site. It has the country’s biggest concentration of hippopotamuses and crocodiles and large dry season mammal populations of elephant and buffalo.