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Helicopter flight over Victoria Falls and the zigzag Batoka Gorge, Zimbabwe

Victoria Falls Zimbabwe

Discover the Majestic Wonders and Thrilling Adventures of Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe

Victoria Falls, known locally as Mosi-oa-Tunya, "the Smoke That Thunders", is Zimbabwe's most famous sight and one of the Seven Natural Wonders of Africa. Shared by Zimbabwe and Zambia, the falls stretch 1.7 kilometres across the Zambezi River and plunge more than 100 metres into the First Gorge, making them the largest curtain of falling water on earth. At peak flow the spray rises like smoke above the bush and can be seen from up to 50 kilometres away.

A visit here is far more than a single viewpoint. Rainforest paths lead to one breathtaking lookout after another, each wetter and louder than the last, while the gorges below host some of Africa's most thrilling adventures: bungee jumping from the Victoria Falls Bridge, zip lining across the gorge and Grade 5 white-water rafting in the Batoka Gorge. For a gentler pace, sunset cruises and birding on the upper Zambezi make the perfect counterbalance.

Beyond the falls, the region offers game drives, walks and elephant experiences, while the town of Victoria Falls brings restaurants, bars and a lively evening scene. Whether you're walking the rainforest paths along the cliff edge opposite the falls or flying over the spray in a helicopter, Victoria Falls is a destination of unmatched magnificence.

Victoria Falls Facts

Where Is Victoria Falls?

Victoria Falls lies on the Zambezi River, which forms the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia, in the far north-west of Zimbabwe. The Zimbabwean town of Victoria Falls sits right beside the falls, with the rainforest entrance close to the town and the border post; Livingstone is the Zambian town across the river. For where to stay in relation to the falls, see our guide to lodges in Victoria Falls.

These two maps show the falls and the town:

Best Time to Visit Victoria Falls

The falls run at full flood from March to May, when the Zambezi thunders over the edge at its most powerful. The spray is then so heavy that many viewpoints on the ground are lost in mist, so a helicopter flight gives the finest view of all.

From August to January the river runs lower and the cliffs that form the falls are revealed: a superb time to photograph the rock face, and the season for Devil's Pool, reached only from the Zambian side. For month-by-month detail, see when to visit Zimbabwe.

Handy tip: at high water, leave your good camera behind on the rainforest walk. Spray and cameras don't mix, so carry your phone in a waterproof pouch instead.

Information on Victoria Falls

One of the most spectacular natural wonders on earth, Victoria Falls sends millions of litres of Zambezi water over sheer basalt cliffs into the narrow First Gorge below. The viewing area near the Zimbabwe border post offers numerous viewpoints, reached by paths through the rainforest that thrives in the constant spray. This walk is a must: take it with a guide or wander the paths at your own pace.

Adventure and easy-going activities can be booked at any stage of your stay, alongside safari options such as game drives, night drives, horseback rides and elephant experiences. For a night out, there are bars, restaurants and a casino or two.

Main Attractions of Victoria Falls

  • The upper Zambezi (the river above the falls): relaxed, easy-going activities including sunset and dinner cruises, canoeing, fishing and birding.
  • Around the Victoria Falls Bridge: where the adventure begins, with bungee jumping, zip lining and the flying fox.
  • The Batoka Gorge: white-water rafting, kayaking and bodyboarding for real adventure seekers.
  • Above the falls: the best options for photography, with microlight, helicopter and balloon flights.

Ready to Hear the Smoke That Thunders? Scroll Down to Start Planning Your Trip

Victoria Falls Questions Answered

Where is Victoria Falls?

Victoria Falls lies on the Zambezi River, which forms the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia, so the falls are shared by both countries. On the Zimbabwe side, the town of Victoria Falls sits in the far north-west of the country with the rainforest viewpoints on its doorstep, while Livingstone is the Zambian town on the opposite bank.

How big is Victoria Falls?

Victoria Falls is about 1.7 kilometres wide and drops more than 100 metres into the First Gorge, the head of the Batoka Gorge system. At full flow the water pours over almost the entire width, broken only by islands on the lip, and the spray column can be seen from up to 50 kilometres away.

Is Victoria Falls the largest waterfall in the world?

By the usual measure, yes: Victoria Falls is the largest curtain of falling water on earth. It is neither the tallest waterfall nor the widest, but no other combines its width and height into a single sheet of water. It is also one of the Seven Natural Wonders of Africa.

What does Mosi-oa-Tunya mean?

Mosi-oa-Tunya means "the Smoke That Thunders", and it describes the falls perfectly: a towering column of spray and a roar you feel as much as hear. It is the local name, far older than the European one. David Livingstone named the falls after Queen Victoria, and both names are in everyday use on either side of the river.

What are the different sections of the falls?

The falls divide into four main sections: the Devil's Cataract, the Main Falls, the Rainbow Falls and the Eastern Cataract, running from the Zimbabwe bank to the Zambian one. The Zimbabwe rainforest paths look straight across at the Devil's Cataract and the Main Falls, while the Eastern Cataract is closest to the Zambian side.

Will I get wet at the viewpoints?

At high water, yes: the spray falls on the rainforest paths like a heavy downpour, and a raincoat only helps so much. Carry your phone in a waterproof pouch and leave a good camera behind. At lower water the paths are far drier, and the cliff face is much easier to see and photograph.

Can you swim in Devil's Pool from Zimbabwe?

No. Devil's Pool is reached only from the Zambian side, by boat to Livingstone Island on the lip of the falls, so from Zimbabwe it means crossing the border. It opens only when the river is low enough for the rock pool to be safe, making it a low-water outing rather than a year-round one.

Travel To Zimbabwe Now

Map of Lodges in and around Zimbabwe

 

Zimbabwe Travel Topics

The Perfect Zimbabwe Honeymoon

Most honeymoons are an exercise in doing very little at considerable expense, and there is a great deal to be said for that. Zimbabwe simply arranges better company for it. Elephants come down to drink below the deck while you are still on your first coffee; the guide turns out to know which lion crossed the airstrip in the night; dinner happens on a Zambezi deck while the light goes orange and then goes altogether. Nobody puts Zimbabwe at the top of the shortlist — Kenya and the Cape get there first — which is precisely why the lodges are quieter and the guiding is better than it needs to be.

Top 10 Must See Attractions In Victoria Falls

Livingstone named it after a queen who never saw it, and the Tonga had been calling it Mosi-oa-Tunya, the smoke that thunders, for a very long time before he turned up. Theirs is the better name. Five hundred million litres a minute go over the edge in full flood, which is enough to soak you through a hired raincoat before you are halfway along the Zimbabwe footpath, and enough to hide the falls entirely if you have come in the wrong month. There is also a rock pool at the very lip of the drop that people swim in. We will come to that.

5 Best Lodges In Victoria Falls

You can see the falls properly in ninety minutes. The rest of the week happens wherever you are sleeping, which makes the choice of lodge matter more here than almost anywhere else in Zimbabwe. Some of them are town hotels with a shuttle and a buffet. Others sit far enough upriver that the loudest thing at breakfast is one hippo disagreeing with another. The gap in price between those two experiences is usually smaller than you would expect, and the gap in the holiday is not. Here are five I would put my own money on.

10 Reasons To Visit The Zambezi River

The Zambezi begins as a spring in a patch of Zambian woodland you could step across, and ends two and a half thousand kilometres later in the Indian Ocean, having spent much of the journey acting as the border of half of southern Africa. Six countries. One waterfall that needs no introduction, a dam that made an inland sea, and a stretch below that dam at Mana Pools where you are permitted to walk. It is also, at six in the evening with the light going, the single best place in this part of the continent to be sitting still.

Luxury Tented Safari Camps in Zimbabwe

"Tent" is a word working extremely hard in this part of the brochure. It covers canvas on a hardwood deck with a four-poster and plumbing that would pass in Kensington, and it also covers a bucket shower and a zip. What the two share is the actual reason to choose either: canvas does not keep sound out. You hear the elephants arrive at the Hwange waterhole at two in the morning. You hear the hippos settling their differences on the Zambezi. You lie there listening rather than sleeping, which is rather the point of the whole arrangement.

10 Reasons To Visit The Hwange National Park

Hwange should not really work. Most of it sits on Kalahari sand with no permanent river anywhere near it, and the reason elephants stand shoulder to shoulder at Nyamandhlovu Pan in October is that somebody is running a diesel pump. That decision was taken in the 1920s by a warden named Ted Davison, and it has been kept up, more or less, ever since. Fourteen thousand square kilometres of managed thirst. The Big Five are all present on paper, though I would not build a holiday around seeing the rhino. The elephants are an entirely different proposition.

Zimbabwe Travel Bucket List

For most of the last century the Rhodesian authorities preferred to believe that Zimbabweans had not built Great Zimbabwe. Phoenicians were proposed. So were the Queen of Sheba's architects. The stonework is Shona, laid without mortar, eleven metres high in places, and it is the only ruin I can think of that gave its name to the country containing it. That is the sort of country this is. The obvious things — the falls, the Hwange elephants, the rapids below the gorge — are worth every hour of the flight, and underneath them sits a second Zimbabwe that most itineraries never touch.

10 Reasons to Visit Victoria Falls for an Unforgettable Experience

The bridge was cast in Darlington, shipped out in pieces and bolted together over the gorge in 1905, and people now jump off it on an elastic rope. Victoria Falls has been like this ever since: a serious piece of natural history with an adrenaline economy bolted to the side of it. You can run the grade five rapids in the Batoka Gorge in the morning and be on a boat with a gin and tonic by six, watching the same water arrive flat and innocent above the lip. Both are honest ways to spend a day here. So is doing neither.