Livingstone & Victoria Falls

Why Livingstone & Victoria Falls works

Victoria Falls, known locally as Mosi-oa-Tunya -- "the smoke that thunders" -- is one of the world's largest waterfalls, a curtain of water over a kilometre and a half wide plunging 108 metres into the Batoka Gorge with a roar and spray plume visible from many kilometres away, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site shared between Zambia and Zimbabwe. The Zambian side, reached from the town of Livingstone (named for the Scottish explorer who first documented the falls for Europeans in 1855), offers closer, wetter viewpoints through the rainforest walkway opposite the Eastern Cataract, while the historic Victoria Falls Bridge, completed in 1905, frames the gorge and hosts one of the world's most dramatic bungee jumps, 111 metres above the roiling Zambezi. Between roughly August and December, when water levels drop, the Zambian side offers access to Devil's Pool, a natural rock pool perched right at the lip of the falls where swimmers can peer over the edge -- one of the most audacious, adrenaline-soaked photographs available anywhere in Africa. Below the falls, the Zambezi's rapids rank among the world's best commercial white-water rafting, graded up to Class V in the gorge section, while calmer stretches upstream host sunset "booze cruises" watching elephant and hippo along the riverbank. Livingstone town itself retains a relaxed, colonial-era feel, with the Livingstone Museum tracing the region's history and craft markets selling Zambian copper and wood carving.

Trip Snapshot

Suitable For