Bulawayo spilling dams attract tourists

WITH the Bulawayo City Council last week announcing that five out of its six supply dams are now spilling, this has brought about a new spectacle around some of the dams as hundreds of people are now flocking to the water bodies to marvel at how the art of engineering has now been brought to the fore by the spilling water.

With water gushing out of the constructed walls one cannot help but wonder at the various engineering masterpiece nestled quietly in the bush land, which largely went unnoticed because of years the city has suffered perennial water shortages, with the dams barely reaching 70 percent of their capacity.

Sunday News last week visited one of the spilling dams - Upper Ncema - and found that the site has since become a hive of activity, with families and individuals clamouring to take pictures at the spectacle, some with their picnic baskets while others stood in groups delving into the history of the dam builders who laboured to create probably one of the country's most exquisitely constructed dam walls.

From the top picnic area, drive or walk along the dam viewing the magnificently constructed concrete spillway while taking in the impressive views of the dam upstream and gorge downstream.

The viewing area at the bridge of the dam wall provides magnificent views of the wall, lake and surrounding bush land.

Even the local authority has since cashed in on this new site by turning the spilling dams into some tourist attraction, even offering a number of aqua- based activities and charging people just to view the spilling water. The local authority's spokesperson, Mrs Nesisa Mpofu, revealed that all the city's dams were constructed uniquely with the intention that if they spill they provide some sort of tourist attraction.

"The Upper Ncema Dam was constructed in 1974 while the Lower Ncema Dam was constructed in 1943. The Engineering Consultant for the Lower and Upper Ncema Dams was Watermeyer, Legge, Presold and Uhlmann (Formerly Kantack and Partners) and the city engineer for Bulawayo City Council.

"The design of the City of Bulawayo dams is unique and is meant to provide tourist attractions. The dams provide various features for interested residents such as boating, fishing, and skiing. Families can go and do picnics, biking, bird viewing and a beautiful scenery perfect for relaxation," said Mrs Mpofu.

She said people who wanted to visit the spilling site at Upper Ncema were being charged $2 per individual. Locals interviewed said they had last seen people flock to view the magnificent dam wall after Cyclone Eline in 2000 noting that for them it was now part of their heritage as they could tell stories of the spilling water.

"Some of our children are now teenagers and have never seen this dam spill, so for some of us who are seeing this spectacle for the second or third time we feel honoured, even when tourists started coming a couple of weeks ago to witness the spillway, we were at bay to tell them stories about this dam.

"It is unfortunate that this dam rarely spills but my call is that council should do more to ensure that they develop the area around the dam, a situation I believe will attract more people to come and camp here because as you can see for yourself this is a lovely site," said Mr Nkosilathi Moyo.

Meanwhile, Mrs Mpofu said despite the dams spilling they still have not reached record breaking levels, revealing that so far record levels were recorded in March 2000 where all the dams except Inyankuni, at 65,12 percent were spilling.

"Mtshabezi and Insiza dams spilled in February 2014 whereas Upper Ncema, Lower Ncema and Mzingwane last spilled in the year 2000. The record levels were in 2000," said Mrs Mpofu.