Epilogue: Towards Mitigating the Challenges Faced by Humans and Animals at Lake Kariba

This book documents the interactions between Lake Kariba and communities living around it. The main focus has been on the materiality of the Lake, that is what it does to humans in different spaces and at different times. It is a first-of-its kind study to engage with the ways in which waterscapes and their material objects enable, and disenable, the agency of humans mainly in connection to livelihoods, cross-border trade, tourism and fishing in the Zambezi Valley, Zimbabwe. Material objects of the Lake include crocodiles, hippos, strong winds, waves, river (ancestral) spirits and inundated graves. These material objects are not merely part of the water, as they shape lives and livelihoods as well as economies in the region. Because of these ‘things’, people die and suffer heavy losses. Given the many challenges faced at Kariba, in this concluding chapter, I provide several measures that could be used to mitigate them. This involves several suggestions around measures for mitigating human wildlife conflicts, human-human conflicts and the enhancement of people’s access and use of the waterscape. Providing communities with increased access to the waterscape is necessary, as it is key to their history, identity, culture and religion.