Covering 70 000 acres, Lake Kariba Recreational Park consists of the water surface of Lake Kariba on the Zimbabwean side of the border with Zambia, which roughly follows the course of the Zambezi River prior to the construction of the dam wall. Its designation as a recreational area permits the lake to be used for such activities as angling, sailing, scuba diving, water skiing and wildlife viewing.
Events such as an annual sailing cruiser regatta and a tiger fishing tournament take place within the park. The park also forms part of what has become a complex assemblage of interlocking facilities, land designations and usages.
For example, the lake is managed as an important commercial fishery by the Department of National Parks and Wild Life Management, although fish poaching has become a serious problem in several areas (see fishing, commercial and subsistence).
It also forms an essential means of communication with isolated lakeshore communities, with pleasure and commercial navigation regulated in terms of the Inland Shipping Act. The use of the land along the lakeshore varies widely. There are several communal lands in which controlled netting has become a lucrative local industry.
The Charara, Hurungwe and Chete Safari Areas which border on the lake are used largely for sport hunting and the Matusadona National Park is used for wildlife safaris by commercial tourist concerns based on island and lakeside camps, such as those on Fothergill and Spurwing Islands.