Victoria Falls

One of the seven wonders of the world, Victoria Falls is known, by the locals, as “Mosi-oa-Tunya” , which simply means “The Smoke that Thunders”!The Victoria Falls has a magic all of its own , and when the river is high there is a towering column of spray – the thunder of the falling water.

The Victoria Falls is 1 708 meters wide, almost a mile long along the Zambia/Zimbabwe border, making it the largest curtain of water in the world and has a drop of  90m and 107m to the Zambezi Gorge below with an average of 550,000 cubic metres of water roaring over the edge a minute.

 Remarkably preserved in its natural state, Victoria Falls is as popular a tourist spot as it was in the day of David Livingstone who discovered the falls in the 1860’s. The Victoria Falls and the National Parks around the falls have been declared a National Heritage site which has prevented the area becoming too commercialised.

The annual flood season is from February to May, peaking in April. The spray from the Victoria Falls rises to over 400 metres and sometimes, twice as high as that, being visible up to 50 km’s away!! Seeing the foot of the falls during the flood season is impossible and the cliff opposite the falls is invisible and shrouded in heavy mist during this season – very much like inverted rain (it is advisable to wear a rain coat when visiting the falls).
November is the dry season, with minimal flow from the mighty Zambezi River.

TOWNS
Victoria Falls Town, in Zimbabwe, lies on the southern bank of the Zambezi River, at the eastern end of the Victoria Falls .Victoria Falls Airport is 18 km south of the town and has international services to Johannesburg and also Namibia.

Livingstone, in Zambia, is a historical,  colonial city and tourism centre close to Victoria Falls , and is situated 10 km south on the Zambezi River. Livingstone is a border town with road and rail connections to Zimbabwe on the other side of the Falls. The Airport has connections to Lusaka and Johannesburg.