One of the places we were looking forward to visiting most during our 5 month Africa trip was Victoria Falls, one of the 7 Wonders of the World and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 

The Zambezi River flows over 1,708 meter wide basalt cliffs that are just over 100 meters in height, resulting in the world’s largest sheet of falling water. On average more than 500 million liters of water per minute flow over the cliffs at peak river levels, typically in February or March. During late October and early November the river usually flows at its lowest level, about 10 million liters of water per minute. And for our August visit the river was already at even lower levels due to rainfall shortages in 2019. However, we were not disappointed!! We took many photos of the incredible waterfalls and afternoon rainbows when we visited the Zimbabwe and Zambia national parks on the south and north sides of the Zambezi River.

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History – The person most associated with Victoria Falls is David Livingstone, a Scottish physician, missionary, and explorer of Africa for over 30 years. When traveling in the Zambezi River area he was told by local tribesmen about Mosi Oa Tanya, translated “the smoke that thunders”. And in November 1855 the tribesmen took him in a dugout canoe to the spectacular sight, which he named Victoria Falls in honor of Queen Victoria of England. Even though water levels were low during our visit, we saw plenty of mist or “smoke” from a distance and up close along the national park walkways. Our clothes, cell phones, and camera stayed fairly dry, quite the opposite from what visitors experience in February and March!

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Victoria Falls Bridge – The river forms the border between the two countries and many tourists and locals cross the Victoria Falls Bridge each day. And when standing halfway across the bridge a pedestrian can place one foot in Zambia and the other in Zimbabwe at the same time. The official border posts with passport controls, however, are at each end of the steel arch span built in 1906. Some thrill-seeking tourists bungee jump from the south side of the bridge down into the 140 meter deep river gorge. During our morning visit two people paid hundreds of US dollars for the privilege of plunging downward towards the fast-moving water. We bravely watched from the main bridge deck while standing behind the secure guard rails. 

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Zimbabwe Side – We walked from our accommodations to Victoria Falls National Park where we stopped at all of the viewpoints along the paved walkway. We intentionally visited the park in the late afternoon to see as many rainbows as possible in the mist.  And we even spotted a double rainbow!

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Zambia Side – We spent several nights in the town of Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe before moving to our accommodations in Livingstone, Zambia. Sam, our favorite taxi driver in Livingstone, went with us to Zambezi National Park to see the waterfalls and gorges from the north side. One memorable part of our visit was walking across the Knife River Bridge, spanning across one of the deeper gorges.

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Boiling Pot Trail – After the Zambezi River cascades over the many angles of the basalt cliffs, the churning water flows quickly through gorges. We hiked down the canyon to Boiling Pot to see the tumultuous water just before the river flows under the Victoria Falls Bridge. An added bonus was watching rafters and kayakers tackle the rapids as they passed by on their adventure down the river.

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