Victoria Falls

Nothing can quite prepare you for the awe-inducing sight that is southern Africa’s mighty Victoria Falls.

The waterfall, which is known as Mosi-oa-Tynua (‘the smoke that thunders’) in the local Sotho language, is a roaring, powerful spectacle and one of the great natural wonders of the world.

It’s formed by the 1.7m-wide Zambezi River (below) as it cascades over a 300ft gorge, making it the largest waterfall in the world.

It’s estimated that at the height of the rainy season, between February and May, some 500 million cubic metres of water tumble over the gorge every minute.

Victoria Falls is situated on the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe, and you can visit it at either Victoria Falls National Park in Zimbabwe or Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park on the Zambian side.

I opted for Victoria Falls National Park, where inside, there’s a one-way system in place that takes visitors around a series of viewing points.

I set off along the trail and soon found myself faced with a huge statue of David Livingstone (above), the Scottish explorer who ‘discovered’ the waterfall in 1855, naming it after Queen Victoria.

Despite his reputation, Livingstone wasn’t the first European explorer to encounter it (the waterfall had been recorded in various maps long before he reached it), but he was the man who made Victoria Falls famous.

It didn’t take long before I caught my first glimpse of the waterfall – and boy, was I unprepared for what I saw. I knew Victoria Falls was massive, but I’d underestimated just how vast it was.

I also hadn’t appreciated just how much water’s involved and I was taken aback by the almighty roar that came from so much water barreling over the huge cliff.

I found myself completely blown away by the jaw-dropping phenomenon in front of me – and it took a little while to take in what I was seeing and hearing.

The position of the waterfall has changed over the millennia as the pounding water’s cut new gorges out of the rock (Victoria Falls’ current position is its ninth).

You can clearly see where the river’s carving out the next major gorge at a spot known as ‘the devil’s cataract’ (above).

I followed the trail along the side of the devil’s cataract, where at the far end, there was a small clearing where a troop of vervet monkeys was playing.

I stopped to take some photos, before retracing my steps along the path, where a striking rainbow had appeared amid the trees at the first viewpoint (below).

I carried on along the path until it split in two, turning left to explore the rest of the park.

As I walked along the trail, I realised why there had been so many men renting ponchos and raincoats just outside the entrance to the park.

As I got closer to the centre of the waterfall, the spray got heavier and I soon found myself in the middle of a torrential downpour (above).

In no time at all, I was sopping wet, despite sporting a fetching, rented, ankle-length raincoat.

It was worth it because the views were incredible (above). At times, the spray was so heavy it caused a mist that completely shrouded the waterfall, so you couldn’t see a thing.

But if you stayed where you were (getting even wetter in the process), the spray would eventually lift and the waterfall would appear.

In some spots, you could see a few brave (some might say foolhardy) souls sitting on the edge of the rocks in the middle of the waterfall, surrounded by torrents of water.

At the penultimate viewpoint, the ground became so wet and slippery, I fell trying to navigate the perilous rocks underfoot.

But when I reached the viewing point, I was rewarded with the sight of a double rainbow over the Zambezi (above).

The final viewpoint looked out over a bridge spanning the Zambezi River, which connects Victoria Falls Town in Zimbabwe with the town of Livingstone in Zambia (above).

Having seen the waterfall from every angle, we followed the trail back to our starting point.

Along the way, we stopped to watch a few vervet monkeys that were running around, as well as a couple of baboons (above).

By now it was lunchtime, so after leaving the park, we walked through the car park, which was filled with stalls selling souvenirs.

We then crossed the railway line that runs parallel to the car park and set off along the dusty road on the other side of the tracks.

Our destination? The Lookout Café, a superb restaurant overlooking the Zambezi River (above).

As the name suggests, the views are outstanding. The food’s also excellent and I had a delicious ostrich and quinoa salad (above).

That afternoon, we made our way to Chokopoko Flight Centre, where we’d booked a helicopter ride over Victoria Falls.

There are three different flight options you can choose from – a 15-minute flight, a 22-minute flight and a third lasting 25 minutes. We opted for the 22-minute flight.

We set off from the helipad across the barren Zimbabwean landscape (above) and it wasn’t long before we caught our first glimpse of the magnificent waterfall from the air.

The pilot took us back and forth over the waterfall a few times to make sure we all got to see it, no matter where we were sitting in the helicopter. It was an incredible, unforgettable experience.

Seeing Victoria Falls from the air not only helped me better appreciate the scale of the waterfall, but it also helped me better understand how it’s evolved, as I could clearly see where the water used to fall eons ago (above).

After we’d flown over the waterfall from every conceivable angle, the pilot took us a short distance along the Zambezi River (above).

Along the way, the pilot pointed out various animals, including a pod of hippos on an island in the middle of the Zambezi and a herd of elephants that had moved onto a different island two weeks earlier (below).

The pilot then took us over Zambezi National Park, where we saw some buffalo and more elephants, before flying us back to the flight centre.

Victoria Falls is one of the most remarkable places I’ve visited.

It’s truly breathtaking and is easy to see why it’s considered one of the great natural wonders of the world. A must-do if you’re ever in this part of southern Africa.

Top tips

• Tickets to enter Victoria Falls National Park are fairly pricey: when I visited in July 2023, entry cost US$50 per person.
• Unless you’re visiting at the height of the dry season, there’s a good chance you’ll end up sopping wet thanks to the spray: wear shorts and waterproof sandals with exceptionally good grips (it gets very slippery in parts).
• You’ll find lots of people renting ponchos and raincoats for US$3 a pop in the car park: if you haven’t brought your own, be sure to rent one (unless you want to end up drenched)!
• It takes between an hour and two hours to walk around the park: inside, you’ll find toilets, a café and some shops.