Fun fact friday: Check point 4 - Zimbabwe

Our fourth fantastic check point will be Kariba in Zim. Zim has had a lot of bad press in recent years but is definitely on the up and up!

• Zimbabwe became an independent state on 18 April 1980.
• Prior to independence the country was known as Rhodesia or Southern Rhodesia.
• The name Zimbabwe is derived from "Dzimba dza mabwe", which means "great houses of stone" in the Shona language. It is based on the stone structures of Great Zimbabwe or Dzimbahwe, which were included in the World Heritage List in 1986.
• The capital city of Zimbabwe is Harare.

We like Zim a lot not only because it is Laura's homeland but also because of it's rasta coloured flag. The green represents agriculture, yellow mineral wealth, red the blood that was shed in the fight for independence, and black stands for the native people. The yellow Zimbabwe bird represents the long history of the country and is superimposed on a red five-pointed star, which symbolizes peace.

And now for a fun fact about our Check point location!

• Lake Kariba was formed by the damming of the Zambezi river and is one of the largest man-made lakes in the world. 
• The formation of the dam led to the flooding of the Zambezi Valley which left many animals stranded on small islands.  From 1958 to 1964 a large-scale wildlife rescue operation - Operation Noah - was led by Rupert Fothergill during which over 6000 animals (elephant, rhino, lion, leopard, zebra, small birds and even snakes) were rescued and relocated to the mainland.

Again thanks CIA World factbook