Nyami Nyami

Although there are several different legends surrounding the Nyami Nyami the Kariba legend is the most documented and widely known fable.

The Kariba Legend

"The BaTonga People lived in the Zambezi Valley for centuries in peaceful seclusion and with little contact with the outside world. They were simple folk who built their houses in kraal along the banks of the great river and believed that their gods looked after them supplying them with water and food.

But their idealistic lifestyle was to be blown apart. In the early 1940s a report was made about the possibility of a hydro-electric scheme to supply power for the growing industry that colonialism had brought to the federation of countries that were known as Northern Rhodesia on one side of the river and Southern Rhodesia on the other, now Zambia and Zimbabwe.

In 1956, construction on the Kariba Dam project was started.

Heavy earth-moving equipment roared into the valley and tore out thousands of hundred-year-old trees to build roads and settlements to house the workers who poured into the area to build a dam that would harness the powerful river. The BaTonga's peace and solitude was shattered and they were told to leave their homes and move away from the river to avoid the flood that the dam would cause. Many of them were forcibly removed as they would not believe that their fields and homes they had known all their lives would now be flooded and under water.

The name Kariba comes from the word Kariva or karinga, meaning trap, which refers to a rock jutting out from the gorge where the dam wall was to be built. It was believed by the BaTonga to be the home of the Nyami Nyami, the river god, and they believed anyone who ventured near the rock was dragged down to spend eternity under the water.

Reluctantly they allowed themselves to be resettled higher up the bank, but they believed the Nyami Nyami would never allow the dam to be built and eventually, when the project failed, they would move back to their homes.

In 1957, when the dam was well on its way to completion, the Nyami Nyami struck. The worst floods ever known on the Zambezi washed away much of the partly built dam and the heavy equipment, killing many of the workers.

Some of those killed were white men whose bodies disappeared mysteriously, and after an extensive search failed to find them, Tonga elders were asked to assist as their tribesmen knew the river better than anyone. The elders explained the Nyami Nyami had caused the disaster and in order to appease his wrath a sacrifice should be made.

They weren't taken seriously, but, in desperation, when relatives of the missing workers were due to arrive to claim the bodies of their loved ones, the search party agreed in the hope that the tribesmen would know where the bodies were likely to have been washed to.

A Black calf was slaughtered and floated on the river. The next morning the calf was gone and the workers’ bodies were in its place. The disappearance of the calf holds no mystery in the crocodile infested river, but the reappearance of the workers’ bodies three days after they had disappeared has never been satisfactorily explained.

After the disaster, flow patterns of the river were studied to ascertain whether there was a likelihood of another flood and it was agreed a flood of comparable intensity would only occur once every thousand years.

The very next rainy season, however, brought further floods even worse than the previous year. Nyami Nyami had struck again, destroying the coffer dam, the access bridge and parts of the main wall.

The project survived and the great river was eventually controlled. In 1960 the generators were switched on and have been supplying electricity to Zimbabwe and Zambia ever since.

The BaTonga still live on the shores of River Kariba, and many still believe one day the Nyami Nyami will fulfill his promise and they will be able to return to their homes on the banks of the river. They believe the Nyami Nyami and his wife were separated by the wall across the river, and the frequent earth tremors felt in the area since the wall was built are caused by the spirit trying to reach his wife, and one day he will destroy the dam. The small earthquakes are actually caused by the weight of water stored in Lake Kariba pressing down on the Earth's crust, and intensify with changes in water levels in the lake.

• Zambezi
  • Kariba Dam