take a scenic tour of the falls

Mosi-oa-Tunya - the smoke that thunders - was how locals knew Africa's most famous waterfall when missionary-explorer David Livingstone named it after Queen Victoria of Britain. Since those exploring days in the last century, little other than river levels has changed the physical sight of Vic Falls. But the town is a buzzing centre of adventure tourism - white water rafting, river boarding, bungee jumping, microliting. Buzzing into the 21st century it might be, but on the edge of town, you can still encounter herds of buffalo and elephant on their way to the Zambezi for their own sundowners. Yep, It doesn't get much better than this. Here is a river, one of Africa's mightiest, thundering over a 100m-high, 1.5km-long cliff before squeezing its enormous flow - 120 million gallons of water a minute - into the claustrophobic defile of the Batoka Gorge, producing some of the world's best, meanest white water. The adventure-adrenalin crews at Vic Falls get it on a platter. See the arial shots I took of the falls from a helicopter, by taking a scenic tour of Vic Falls Or for a pure adrenalin rush, why not try the 111m bungi jump off the bridge? I did! See the bungi jump photos. Also see Africa Extreme Bungi Webpage

Visitors can gaze at the mighty Zambezi as it flows, broad and placid, to the brink of a basalt lip, nearly two kilometres wide before taking a headlong 100 metre plunge into the thunderous, frothy chasm of the gorge below. This is the world's largest sheet of falling water. The spray (often accompanied by rainbows) falls back as a permanent "rain", nourishing the exotic vegetation forming the rain forest through which paths wind leading the spectator on a magnificent tour of the various view points. It is a World Heritage Site, one of two in Zimbabwe. Named by Livingstone after Queen Victoria in November 1855. Visited in 1947 by King George VI, Queen Elizabeth and Princess Margaret. David Livingstone, 1813-73, was a Scottish explorer in Africa. While a medical missionary in what is now Botswana (1841-52), he crossed the Kalahari desert and discovered the Zambezi River. In 1855 he discovered and named Victoria Falls. He set out to seek the source of the Nile in 1866. H.M. Stanley went in search of him, finding him in 1871. Stanley then joined him on a journey (1871-72) to the north end of Lake Tanganyika. Livingstone died in an African village; his body is buried in Westminster Abbey. Read more about David Livingstone

take a look at the bungi jump photos!

click on any image below to enlarge it...

5 Zimbabwe dollars (go to money page)	Zambezi beer, Zimbabwe
Explorers Bar, Vic Falls, Zimbabwe	downtime night club, Vic Falls, Zimbabwe

Read more about: David Livingstone first white man to see Victoria Falls see the lonely planet notes on Zimbabwe and Victoria Falls see Victoria Falls in the itinerary

External Victoria Falls sites / info Zambezi.com whatsonwhen.com - Flight over the Victoria Falls

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