The Brokopondo Reservoir is located in almost the exact center of Suriname. It is clearly visible in the map back on my Geography home page, as the large, blue, lake-looking splotch in the middle of the map. Though very large, it is not a key tourist spot in Suriname. The reservoir was created by constructing the Afobaka Dam across the Suriname River. The dam spanning the river is 54 meters tall, and is built near the small town of Afobaka. Contrary to the reservoir's long official name, it was quickly renamed Brokopondomeer by Dutch-speaking locals, after the town of Brokopondo two miles further downstream from where the dam was made. The length of the dam, including secondary dams along the sides of the reservoir, is 12 kilometers. The reservoir was put into service in the 1960s, but did not reach its potential water level until the early 1970s. Due to the area of the reservoir, villages that housed up to approximately 5,000 people had to be abandoned. Most displaced residents simply founded new villages downstream from the dam, in many cases with the same names as the previously abandoned towns. A separate government operation, "Operation Gwamba," was conducted to save animals from the new-coming lake bed lake bed.