Common Names: Itezhi Tezhi Dam

Tags: dam | hydro electric | kafue national park | kafue river | lake | lechwe | man made | minor lake | Reservoir | sitatunga

The Itezhi-Tezhi Dam on the Kafue River is a man made hydro-electric dam that was built between 1974 and 1977 at the Itezhi-Tezhi Gap. It is located in Central Province most nearest to the district of Itezhi-Tezhi. It leads to the Kafue flats and floods a section of the Kafue National Park.

The Itezhi-Tezhi Dam has impacted the local ecology of the Kafue Flats including Fish production which has significantly declined.
The Kafue Flats ecosystem is adapted to regular extremes of flooding and drying out. The floods charge the soil with water. Fish and animals adapt to swim or wade, help spread nutrients, and when the waters recede, grasses grow rapidly and sustain herbivores such as buffalo, lechwe, and cattle. The natural seasonal cycle has maintained plants, fish, and animals, as they have adapted to the March–April inundation in their nutrition and breeding.

The lake has rich wildlife in the area but the construction of the dam has affected the wildlife breeding and feeding habits due to the unpredictability of flooding. Wildlife, such as Lechwe, and Sitatunga, which rely on particular timing and extent of the floods in their breeding grounds, have had their breeding behaviour disrupted, leading to population decline.
In the dry season the amount of grass for grazing has reduced for both wildlife and cattle, and woody species are invading grasslands on the floodplain.