Victoria Falls Zimbabwe

Legendary

Its height and width make it the largest sheet of falling water in the world.

Photo by Zimbabwean-eyes

Long before it acquired an English title, the people who lived beside this waterfall knew it as Mosi-oa-Tunya. The name means “the smoke that thunders.”

Go close and it becomes clear why. Great plumes of spray leap skyward like smoke, and the thunderous rush of the water is so powerful that you must raise your voice to be heard.

These falls lie on the Zambezi River in southern Africa, exactly along the Zambia-Zimbabwe border. At this point, the river plunges abruptly over a cliff into a steep, narrow gorge beneath.

The waterfall is 1,708 meters across, which is more than a kilometer and a half. Its drop is 108 meters, roughly twice the height of Niagara Falls.

It is neither the tallest waterfall on Earth nor the widest. Yet when its width and height are considered together, it forms the largest curtain of falling water on the planet.

For generations, the local Kololo and Lozi people knew these falls. The Tonga used another name for them: Shungu Namutitima, meaning “boiling water.”

In 1851, a Scottish missionary and explorer called David Livingstone first heard accounts of the place. Four years later, he went to see it for himself.

He spent the night on an island upstream. Then, on November 16, 1855, he paddled a small canoe to a rocky island at the very brink of the falls.

There he looked over the edge. He became the first European to view the falls.

Livingstone named them Victoria Falls in honor of Queen Victoria, who was then ruling Britain. The island where he stood is now known as Livingstone Island.

Today, both names remain in use. The national park on Zambia’s side is called Mosi-oa-Tunya, while the park and town on the Zimbabwe side are named Victoria Falls.

UNESCO designated the falls a World Heritage Site in 1989. In the mist, rainbows show up on nearly every sunny day.

Follow the trails through the rainforest on either side, and take a raincoat because the spray will drench you. Watch for rainbows spanning the gorge. If you feel adventurous and the river is low enough, go to Livingstone Island and look over the edge, just as Livingstone did in 1855.

Sources: Zambia Tourism, Wikipedia, and David Livingstone Birthplace.