The spectacular Victoria Falls, Zambia’s most famous national landmark, is on the banks of the majestic Zambezi River marking the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe. The nearby town of Livingstone has come to be known as the “Adventure Centre” of Southern Africa, thanks, no doubt, to the many outdoors excursions and adventures inspired by the beautiful waterfalls, often called the greatest known curtain of falling water in the world.
On one side of Victoria Falls, Zambia thrives on the tourist trade in the town built along side of the falls in 1905. The opposite side of the falls is a tremendous basalt cliff watered for eons by the spray from the waterfall. The rain forest that has grown up along the cliffs here invites a steep but spectacular hike up the cliff with the chance to see the falls from a perspective found nowhere else.
The dimensions of the falls are so immense as to be almost inconceivable. Every minute, 38,430 cubic feet (1,088 cubic meters) of water fall 360 feet (108 meters) to go crashing into the boiling Zambezi River below. The fall spans more than a mile (1.7 kilometers). No other waterfall in the world is as tall or as wide as the breathtaking Victoria Falls, Zambia.
Long before Scottish missionary Dr. David Livingstone “discovered” the falls and named them in honor of his revered British queen, Victoria Falls, Zambia, was known throughout the ages by several exotic-sounding names - Shungu na mutitima, aManza Thunqayo, and most recently Mosi-oa-Tunya – which all translate to mean “the smoke that thunders”. The ancient Arab word for the falls translates to “the end of the world.”
This thundering cloud of smoke can be seen from many miles away in every direction. There is evidence near the falls of early human occupation (by Homo habilis) dating back 3 million years, all lured here perhaps by the clearly visible landmark made by the smoky mist rising from the falls.
Wrote Dr. Livingstone of Victoria Falls, Zambia, "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".