Victoria Falls

Victoria Falls, called Mosi-oa-Tunya, the smoke that thunders, by the local people, is one of the greatest waterfalls on earth and a UNESCO World Heritage Site straddling the border of Zimbabwe and Zambia. Here the mighty Zambezi River, over a mile wide, plunges in a vast, roaring sheet of water into a narrow basalt chasm, sending up a towering column of spray visible for miles. The Zimbabwean side offers the fullest, most panoramic front-on views along a rainforest path facing the thundering curtain.

History

The basalt plateau over which the Zambezi falls formed in the Jurassic, around 200 million years ago, and stone tools of the Early and Middle Stone Age have been dug up around the falls, along with Early Iron Age pottery and signs of iron smelting from late in the first millennium AD. Local peoples knew the falls long before Europeans, who doubted the reports because the flat plateau seemed an unlikely place for a great waterfall, and after Livingstone's visit of 1855 early visitors included the Czech explorer Emil Holub, who drew the first detailed plan in 1875, and the British artist Thomas Baines, who made some of the first paintings. European settlement began around 1900, driven by Cecil Rhodes's British South Africa Company, and the railway and the Victoria Falls Bridge opened the site to tourism (Wikipedia, Victoria Falls).

What you'll find

• The main falls - the mile-wide curtain of water thundering into the gorge.
• The rainforest walk - the viewpoints along the facing cliff.
• The spray and rainbows - the towering mist and its rainbows.
• The activities - the rafting, sunset cruises and bridge nearby.

When to go

February to May, just after the rains, for the fullest, most thunderous flow, though the spray can obscure the view; the drier months from August to December show more of the rock face and allow swimming at Devil's Pool on the Zambian side. The Zimbabwean side has the widest panorama.

Things to know

At peak flow the spray is so heavy that you get soaked and the falls can be partly hidden by mist, while in the very dry season the flow drops, especially on the Zambian side, so timing shapes the experience. The town is geared to tourism, with plentiful, sometimes pricey, activities. The falls themselves, however, are a genuine natural wonder and thunderously unforgettable.

Nearby

Chobe in Botswana, the Zambezi and Hwange are within reach.

Key facts