If you're not familiar with Victoria Falls, it is a waterfall on the Zambezi River at the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe. The Zambezi River is the fourth largest river in Africa.
Victoria Falls was described by the Kololo tribe living in the area in the 1800s as Mosi-oa-Tunya - "The Smoke that Thunders." (BTW, there is a Zambian beer called Mosi for "thunderous refreshment"). : (Cindy likes it.)
Victoria Falls, today, is known as the greatest curtain of falling water in the world. In fact, it is one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World, and it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is the only waterfall in the world with a length of more than a kilometer and a height of more than 100 meters. It also is considered by many to be the largest falls in the world.
The water level varies throughout the year; it is at its peak in April, at the end of the rainy season, when on average 500,000,000 liters of water flow, and it is at its lowest level in October and November. We're here in September so we got to see quite a bit of water but not nearly as much as we would have seen in April and probably more than we could see if we came in October.
The waterfall was hardly visited by people until 1905, when a railway to Bulawayo was constructed. It has quickly gained popularity until the end of the British colonial rule. At the end of the 1960, the number of tourists started to decrease due to the guerrilla struggle in Zimbabwe. After Zimbabwe gained independence, the region has been in relative peace and Victoria Falls is attracting a new wave of tourism.
In fact, the largest sector of employment in the Livingstone area is tourism.
Let's start with Livingstone, a community through which we passed from the airport to the lodge. The city was founded in 1905 at a safe distance from the then-swampy banks of the Zambezi. It became the capital of what was known as Northern-Western Rhodesia in 1907 then became the capital of Northern Rhodesia in 1911.
But it originally was known as the Old Drift, and the town owes its existence primarily to Victoria Falls as it was established as a staging point across the river.
The town, of course, is named after the Scottish explorer Dr. David Livingstone, the first European to see, name and publicize Victoria Falls. Livingstone's journey and first sight of the falls in 1855 opened up Central Africa to other missionaries, hunters and traders.
During his 1852-56 journey from the upper Zambezi to the mouth of the river, Livingstone had been told about the falls before he reached them from upriver in 1855. He was paddled across to a small island that now bears the name Livingstone Island on the Zambian half of the river. He was escorted by members of the Makololo tribe.
Our lodge is located about 50 kilometers upstream of the falls on the Zambezi River so Livingstone would have passed the location, where he would have seen hippos and giraffes and such as we've seen.
Anywho, Livingstone previously had been impressed by the Ngonye Falls further upstream but, apparently, was astounded with the new find and gave the falls its English name in honor of Queen Victoria.
The falls were indeed impressive. We spent about two hours roaming the edge of the gorge directly across from the falls on the Zimbabwe side, from which you can view the entire main falls.
We then went to the Zambia side to view the falls and spent about an hour there with our guide, Julius (he couldn't accompany us in Zimbabwe because he would have had to pay as we did to enter). The Zambia is not nearly as stunning, yet it has its beauty. We also saw the Victoria Falls Bridge, on which only two vehicles are allowed at a time - it is the bridge we crossed from Zambia to Zimbabwe where we had to wait for some time to get the paperwork done for immigration.
It was getting on 1 p.m. when we left the falls to eat at an Italian eatery in Livingstone (yep, Italian - it was called "Olga's Italian - go figure). We arrived back at the lodge around 2:30 p.m., and we were pretty darn tired so we took a nap in our nice air-conditioned lodge - it was probably around 98 degrees outside) - before preparing for our second sunset cruise on the river.
We were optimistic about spotting wildlife, as we did pretty well the first night and we did! We saw some magnificent kudus, impala, baboons and giraffes - but as for birds, there wasn't much to see, as our boat driver did not slow enough to get a good look at anything. I was particularly eager to see hippos, but we only saw the tops of a few of their heads!
The greater kudu is a woodland antelope found throughout eastern and southern Africa. Despite occupying such widespread territory, they are sparsely populated in most areas due to declining habitat, deforestation and poaching. There were several kudu along with several impalas.
The impala is a medium-sized antelope found in eastern and southern southern Africa. It is found in woodlands and sometimes on the interface between woodlands and savannahs; it inhabits places close to water.
We're getting up very early tomorrow (5:15 a.m.) for a dawn cruise before we go visit the village in which most of the Woodberry staff live with their families.
This is the main falls at Victoria Falls from the Zimbabwe said.
This is a cataract far from the main falls, from the Zimbabwe side.
The falls with the beautiful multi-color rocks.
A rainbow at Rainbow Falls on the Zambia side.
Viewing the falls from the Zambia side. The mist between the basalt columns in the back indicates the main falls.
From the Zambia side. Please note itty-bitty people standing on the outcropping in the upper left to get a sense of the size of the falls.
A baboon with the falls in the background from the Zambia side.
This is the Victoria Falls bridge that links Zambia and Zimbabwe. Only two vehicles at a time are allowed on the bridge (!).
I spotted this mom baboon with her monkey as we were waiting in the vehicle to get back to Zambia.
This is a wart hog. We saw him on the drive to Victoria Falls.
A better photo of a giraffe.
This is a kudu.
This is an impala.
This is a better photo of the giant kingfisher.
We ran into these baboons on our walk around the falls. The larger one, which I assume is the female and mom of the baby grooming her.
Hard to see but there are impalas at top, baboons at bottom. The baboons tear apart the elephant dung and other kind of dung because there are seeds and grass in them. The impala then feed on the grass.
This is a pied kingfisher.
Another beautiful sunset on Zambezi River.
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