Arguably the most magnificent waterfall in the world, the Victoria Falls is only one of two sites which have remained on the list of The Seven Natural Wonders of the World (the other one being The Grand Canyon).
It is the largest single curtain of falling water in the world with a width of 1 mile, or 1.7 kilometres. It is just over half that of Iguassu Falls (1.6 miles or 2.7 kms) but with a drops of between 238 feet or 74m, and 360 feet or 108m, it is twice as high as Niagara Falls (167 feet or 51m). During the wet season over 500 million litres (19 million cubic feet) of water plummets over the edge into the Zambezi River and this incredible amount of water generates a huge amount of spray which shoots 1,000 feet into the sky and can be seen 30 miles away, hence the name Mosi-oa-Tunya (smoke that thunders).
Dr. Livingstone had been told about the Falls before he reached them from upriver on 16 November 1855 and was paddled across to a small island that now bears the name Livingstone Island in Zambia. Livingstone had previously been impressed by the Ngonye Falls further upstream, but found the new Falls much more impressive, and gave them their English name in honour of Queen Victoria. He wrote of the Falls in March 1856, "No one can imagine the beauty of the view from anything witnessed in England. It had never been seen before by European eyes; but scenes so lovely must have been gazed upon by angels in their flight."
As a town, Livingstone is an interesting place. It used to be the capital of Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) and its streets are still lined with Victorian-era colonial buildings.
Visiting the Victoria Falls in Livingstone on the Zambia side of the Zambezi is the perfect combination with any southern Africa safari in Zambia, Botswana, Namibia or South Africa.
