The mythical Zambezi River, evoker of legends and epic feats of livingstonian memory, flows halfway down its course into the most spectacular, powerful and scenic waterfalls in the world, the Victoria Falls, on the borderline between Zambia and Zimbabwe. A place where the overwhelming force of nature shows itself in all its magnificence, amidst the jumps of water that violently plunge 100 metres in height and 1600 metres in length, creating a front that noisily crashes into the gorges, generating a dusting of droplets that rises hundreds of metres into the atmosphere.
It’s a spectacle that is in itself worth a trip to Zambia and Zimbabwe, in the geographical heart of Southern Africa, where the Scottish missionary and explorer Livingston first arrived among Europeans in 1855, finding himself in front of what he christened the Victoria Falls, already known to the local Khoisan and Makololo peoples as ‘Mosi-oa-Tunya’, ‘the smoke that thunders’, referring to the dense water cloud and the noise generated in the falls.
Considered one of the 7 Wonders of the World, it goes without saying that UNESCO named them a World Heritage Site in 1989, and while the wide frontal view of the main wall of water, observable from the Zimbabwean side, is thrilling, equally impressive and closer is the faceted view from the Zambian side, where it is possible to reach the narrowest point of the Batoka Gorge, or in the dry season, to approach the precipice, passing over a rocky path in the middle of the water, to dive and swim in a natural pool, ‘the devil’s pool’, which opens at the edge of the main drop, not far from Livingston Island.
We are talking about a unique experience, immersed in a perennial natural shower, generated by water dust, surrounded by dozens of rainbows that colour the gorges. A spectacle that can also be enjoyed through a variety of tourist and adventure activities, from a helicopter flight to a sunset boat trip, from rafting through the rapids to bungee jumping from the colonial-era iron bridge, suspended between the gorges, which connects the two banks and the two African states.
Starting points and compulsory stops on the way to discovering the waterfalls and national parks of Mosi-oa-Tunya in Zambia and Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe, are the small town of Victoria Falls coming from the latter’s side and the town of Livingston in Zambia, a centre from where the early 20th century railway line also passes, travelled by one of the world’s most beautiful vintage trains, a Southern African Orient Express.
Impressive scenery and rich natural environments, such as the entire course of the Zambezi River, which hosts exceptional microclimates, wildernesses and islets, providing sustenance and essential water reserves to a very high concentration of wildlife, especially the numerous colonies of elephants, herds of buffalo, families of crocodiles, hippos, giraffes, gazelles, an extraordinary birdlife, as well as some rhinoceroses, reintroduced to Zambia from South Africa in the Mosi-oa-Tunya, where it is also possible to walk peacefully with lions.
