Lake Kariba is the world's largest artificial lake and reservoir by volume. It lies 1300 kilometers upstream from the Indian Ocean, along the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe. Lake Kariba was filled between 1958 and 1963 following the completion of the Kariba Dam at its north-eastern end, flooding the Kariba Gorge on the Zambezi River.

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The Zimbabwean town of Kariba was originally built for construction workers on the lake's dam, while some other settlements such as Binga village and Mlibizi in Zimbabwe and Siavonga and Sinazongwe in Zambia have grown up to house people displaced by the rising waters.