Mary Richardson / Special to American Press

Victoria Falls is just over a mile wide and 355 feet high. During the dry season (November to January), much of the basalt cliff is visible, as shown here. During the wet season (summer months), water pours over almost the entire wall. Natives called the falls “Smoke that Thunders” well before David Livingstone named it for Queen Victoria. (Joe Richardson/Special to the American Press)

“This is nothing,” said a Zimbabwean standing next to me.

“What!” I said, my astonishment making me forget my manners.

I was staring at Victoria Falls — one of the seven wonders of the world and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. A deafening curtain of water pouring over a cliff that looked like it was a city block long (it is actually one mile long; I just couldn’t see it all).

I was mesmerized by the incredible mist coming from the bottom of the gorge and heading to the heavens. And I was charmed by the rainbow that formed just in front of the falls.

“This is nothing?” I repeated dumbly.

“You have to see it after the rains. Then it has some water! This is nothing.”

“Elephant sh**,” said my husband Joe, pointing to three extremely large globs of straw and other things. “I’ve been in Africa too long when I can recognize elephant sh**.”

“Yes,” said the Zimbabwean. “A family of elephants broke down the fence and came into the park. They are very destructive animals. But they are gone now.”

I stood still, imagining a family of elephants standing on the same cliff I was on, looking into the abyss of water and watching the rainbows. What would elephants be thinking?

Perhaps, “Oh, not much water today.” Plop plop. “Let’s go see what’s happening at Niagara.” Plop.

No, I don’t think so.

River cruise

Our excursion to Victoria Falls had begun the day before on the mighty Zambezi River, the fourth longest river in Africa and longest river flowing east in all of Africa.

We had followed along its banks by car as it flowed through Botswana until the Zambezi became the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe.

We checked into our lodge in the Zimbabwean town of Victoria Falls and made arrangements to travel to the falls the next morning. But that evening we were free, so we took a “sundowner” river cruise on the Zambezi.

The river was wide and strong. Elephants came right down to the water’s edge to drink, not minding that we were in a boat just feet away. Crocodiles were on the edges and hippos ruled the water; the boats stayed away from them both. Raptors were on every dead branch, and we knew that just past the edge of the water there were lions, buffalo, zebra, monkeys, mongoose and more, maybe all looking right at us.

The sun shining into the heavy mist rising from the falls creates rainbows by day. A full moon will create the same colors at night, but then it’s called a moonbow. (Mary Richardson/Special to the American Press)

 

Just before one of Africa’s splendid sunsets, the boat pilot pointed downstream to where we could see plumes of mist rising from the horizon like a giant peacock’s tail. It looked like smoke from a huge fire.

“That’s Victoria Falls,” said the pilot, sounding awed even though he must have seen the sight a million times.

Knowing we were still four or five miles away, I wondered what kind of falls could produce a fireworks of mist that looked like white mountains? Where was this river going?

The next day, when we traveled a few miles to Zambezi National Park, we found out.

The entire mile-wide Zambezi River falls off a black basaltic cliff into a crack in the earth only 80 feet wide. The river is at the bottom. Zambia is on the north side, Zimbabwe on the south side. Both countries are about level in altitude at that point. It’s only the water that cascades 350 feet down to the river, creating mist that can rise a quarter mile into the air.

Considered to be the largest falls in the world, Victoria Falls is roughly twice the height of Niagara Falls and more than twice the width of Niagara’s Horseshoe Falls. It isn’t the highest waterfall in the world, and it isn’t the widest, but it’s considered to be the largest because it forms the biggest sheet of falling water in the world.

Standing in Zimbabwe, we were looking right at the face of the falls, which is in Zambia. The river below us headed at right angles away from the falls. The chasm of the falls was filled with waving plumes of mist. One area had its own personal rainbow.

Africa’s Victoria Falls is located on the Zambezi River between the countries of Zambia and Zimbabwe. (Donna Price/American Press)

 

I heard screams.

I turned to Joe, who had heard it too. “Monkeys?” I asked.

“Humans!” he answered. Then the mist cleared for a moment, and we saw a group in the middle of the river. People wearing bathing suits! People on the edge of the abyss! People screaming with excitement! People seeming to be having a great time. Clearly, crazy people.

The mist thickened, and the people disappeared. “There weren’t really people out there, right?” I asked. But there had been.

We found out later that from the Zambian side, it is possible to travel by boat to Livingstone Island, and then carefully swim out to a place called “Devil’s Pool.” The river forms a natural swimming pool there and, when the water is low, people actually swim to the edge and look over.

I had only one question:

What would David Livingstone have done?

Victoria Falls ‘discovery’

David Livingstone “discovered” Victoria Falls in 1855. The natives had known it was there all the time, of course. They called it the “smoke that thunders.” Livingstone set out in November 1855 to see for himself.

He found the falls, pronounced it “the most wonderful sight I had witnessed in Africa,” and named it after his queen, Victoria.

Three years later, in his diary “Missionary Travels and Researches In South Africa,” Livingstone wrote:

When about half a mile from the falls, I left the canoe by which we had come down thus far, and embarked in a lighter one, with men well acquainted with the rapids, who … brought me to an island situated in the middle of the river, and on the edge of the lip over which the water rolls …

There was danger of being swept down by the streams which rushed along on each side of the island; but the river was now low, and we sailed where it is totally impossible to go when the water is high …

I believe that no one could perceive where the vast body of water went; it seemed to lose itself in the earth, the opposite lip of the fissure into which it disappeared being only 80 feet distant.

At least I did not comprehend it until, creeping with awe to the verge, I peered down into a large rent which had been made from bank to bank of the broad Zambesi, and saw that a stream of a thousand yards broad leaped down a hundred feet, and then became suddenly compressed into a space of fifteen or twenty yards.

Livingstone was probably the first European to see the falls and hear the thunder of the water. He wrote that he saw “scenes so lovely [they] must have been gazed upon by angels in their flight.”

Livingstone Island, the jumping off place for the swimmers, was named for him because that’s where he first saw the falls and where he had “crept with awe to the verge.”

So, if Livingstone would have seen the crazy swimmers, what would he have done?

He would have shed his safari gear, put on a Victorian bathing suit, and joined those people! And maybe that restrained Scottish missionary would have screamed with joy.

And maybe the elephants would have trumpeted in response.

It could have happened.

{{tncms-inline alignment=”center” content=”<p style="text-align: center;"><span>Victoria Falls can be visited from either Zambia or Zimbabwe. During the worst of the political troubles in Zimbabwe, tourism on the Zimbabwean side almost disappeared, while the Zambia side was totally overflowing. However, tourism has returned to Zimbabwe and both countries have full accommodations.</span><br /><span>The American dollar is the legal tender of Zimbabwe because of the hyperinflation that plagued the country. According to the Associated Press, it is possible to buy a one hundred trillion-dollar Zimbabwean note (that’s 100 followed by 12 zeros) for about $5, but only as an economic souvenir. Credit card companies have mostly terminated agreements with Zimbabwe — except for Visa. Visa is accepted almost everywhere.</span><br /><span>Both sides of the falls have advantages, depending on the time of year.</span><br /><span>During the high water months, usually February to April, more than 550,000 cubic meters of water flow over the falls. That is so much water that the spray rises half a mile into the air and hides the view of the falls from the Zimbabwean side. The view is better from Zambia then.</span><br /><span>But during the low water months, usually November and December, less than 20,000 cubic meters of water per minute flow over the falls. Then the view is best from the Zimbabwean side. However, those are also the months Devil’s Pool can be accessed — but from the Zambian side.</span><br /><span>Both sides are beautiful. The lovely Victoria Falls Bridge connects Zimbabwe and Zambia at the falls, and many people cross it to see the view from both countries.</span><br /><span>We stayed at the Pamasha Lodge in Victoria Falls (</span><span class="text_link link_wrap type_url" data-link-type="URL" data-link-target="http://www.pamusha.com">www.pamusha.com</span><span>), owned by a very informative and helpful Zimbabwean, Susan Makanza.</span><br /><span>For the less economically minded, the historic Victoria Falls Hotel is located right in Victoria Falls National Park and has a private pathway to the falls. The Edwardianstyle, five-star hotel was commissioned by Cecil John Rhodes in 1900 while he was attempting to build his “Cape to Cairo” railroad. It exudes both history and luxury, and is one of only three ISO-accredited hotels in Zimbabwe.</span><br /><span>Traveling in Africa is smoother when dealing through a travel agency. We used Focus Travel Center, located in Windhoek, Namibia, and owned by Wim and Brunhilde Dewulf-Peijnenborgh. They can be reached as </span><span class="text_link link_wrap type_eml" data-link-target="focus@iafrica.com.na" data-link-type="EML">focus@iafrica.com.na</span><span> or through</span><span class="text_link link_wrap type_url" data-link-type="URL" data-link-target="http://www.focusnamibia.com">www.focusnamibia.</span><span> </span><span class="text_link link_wrap type_url" data-link-type="URL" data-link-target="http://www.focusnamibia.com">com</span><span>.</span></p>” id=”56ecf2ac-507f-49d4-8b15-7a57aab3501f” style-type=”fact” title=”If You Go” type=”relcontent” width=”full”}}

*This story first appeared in the American Press on January 1, 2012. 

Victoria Falls can be visited from either Zambia or Zimbabwe. During the worst of the political troubles in Zimbabwe, tourism on the Zimbabwean side almost disappeared, while the Zambia side was totally overflowing. However, tourism has returned to Zimbabwe and both countries have full accommodations.

The American dollar is the legal tender of Zimbabwe because of the hyperinflation that plagued the country. According to the Associated Press, it is possible to buy a one hundred trillion-dollar Zimbabwean note (that’s 100 followed by 12 zeros) for about $5, but only as an economic souvenir. Credit card companies have mostly terminated agreements with Zimbabwe — except for Visa. Visa is accepted almost everywhere.

Both sides of the falls have advantages, depending on the time of year.

During the high water months, usually February to April, more than 550,000 cubic meters of water flow over the falls. That is so much water that the spray rises half a mile into the air and hides the view of the falls from the Zimbabwean side. The view is better from Zambia then.

But during the low water months, usually November and December, less than 20,000 cubic meters of water per minute flow over the falls. Then the view is best from the Zimbabwean side. However, those are also the months Devil’s Pool can be accessed — but from the Zambian side.

Both sides are beautiful. The lovely Victoria Falls Bridge connects Zimbabwe and Zambia at the falls, and many people cross it to see the view from both countries.

We stayed at the Pamasha Lodge in Victoria Falls (www.pamusha.com), owned by a very informative and helpful Zimbabwean, Susan Makanza.

For the less economically minded, the historic Victoria Falls Hotel is located right in Victoria Falls National Park and has a private pathway to the falls. The Edwardianstyle, five-star hotel was commissioned by Cecil John Rhodes in 1900 while he was attempting to build his “Cape to Cairo” railroad. It exudes both history and luxury, and is one of only three ISO-accredited hotels in Zimbabwe.

Traveling in Africa is smoother when dealing through a travel agency. We used Focus Travel Center, located in Windhoek, Namibia, and owned by Wim and Brunhilde Dewulf-Peijnenborgh. They can be reached as focus@iafrica.com.na or throughwww.focusnamibia. com.