First time on safari to Victoria Falls – Visiting Victoria Falls – Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe and Zambia
First time on safari to Victoria Falls – Victoria Falls also known as “Mosi oa-Tunya” (“the smoke that thunders”) is positioned almost exactly halfway along the mighty Zambezi’s 2700 km journey from its source in Mwinilunga north-west of Zambia about 1500m above sea level in the marshy black wetland known as dambo in the center of the iconic Miombo woodland to the Indian ocean. Here the river plunges headlong into a 100m vertical chasm spanning the full one-and-a-half kilometer width of the river.
The power of the falls is awesome with the highest ever flow recorded in 1958 when it reached more than 700 000 cubic meters of water a minute. The water in the gorges rose 18 meters (60 feet) above its normal flood level.
This constant pounding by the currents of the mighty Zambezi has, over the millennium, cut through the rock faults and fissures and carved out not one but eight successive precipices.
When the water levels are high, from around March to June, you’ll get soaked, particularly at Viewpoints 9 to 15 on the Zimbabwean side and around Knife Point Island in Zambia. The spray from the Falls can be so heavy that the islands (and its bridge) are showered in a constant “downpour”.
Wear quick-drying clothes and flip-flops and hire one of the ponchos that are available to rent on both sides – they’ll also protect your camera.
It’s not cheap, but for sheer once-in-a-lifetime thrills, a morning microlight flight over the Falls is an absolute must. Exposed to the rushing wind, you’ll buzz over the Zambezi River, soar around the Falls and then plunge through the upper wisps of the Smoke That Thunders itself.
The flight will also give you an aerial lesson in geology that you just can’t get from the ground; you’ll get a good view of the previous gorges that have been carved out over millennia further down the river. Batoka Sky, on the Zambian side, is the only company in the Victoria Falls area that
You have heard right. Though that’s something of an understatement, in many ways, rafting was where it all began for Victoria Falls Town, and in season (around August to December), the Zambezi still boasts the best white water on the planet.
