Massingir Dam

South Africa / Limpopo / Lulekani /
 reservoir lake  Add category

Mozambique
The Massingir dam was built in the 1970's but the 16-year civil war that ensued after independence from Portuguese colonialism hampered the completion of the dam, notably the installation of the sluice gates.

Kruger National Park officials expressed their concerns when Mozambique decided to enlarge the Massingir dam. The officials feared that it would destroy one of the world's largest breeding grounds for the Nile Crocodile.

The Mozambican government, through an $800m loan from the African Development Bank, installed the sluice gates and raised the height of the dam wall. This enabled the dam to hold its full capacity of 2,800 million cubic metres of water. The work began in 2004, and was completed towards the end of October 2006.

The dam wall of the Massingir dam is an earth embankment 4.6km long with a maximum height of 46m. The higher dam wall and newly installed sluice gates caused sediment to back up into the 8km-long Crocodile Gorge. The gorge is in the park and, while it is not generally accessible to tourists, it is the world's largest breeding ground for the Nile Crocodile.
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   23°53'15"S   32°2'36"E

Comments

  • it is very beautiful in the arch shape.!
This article was last modified 8 years ago