The site sees half a million visitors a year, but it wasn’t busy at all when I went. The path continues all the way beyond the border crossing (there is a fence in between, so you cannot leave the country like this). Somewhere there I found a family of bush hyraxes that was warming up in the morning sun. I hiked the so-called Photography path which runs along the edge of the protected area, with views of the Victoria Falls bridge and the deep gorges. You will also get wet here: the 40-meter-long Knife Edge Bridge was completely immersed in splashing water. There are various hiking trails that you can follow. It makes a somewhat less organized impression than the Zimbabwean side. I found that the best view of the entire width of the falls was from the center of the bridge.įinally, a day later, I also visited the Zambian side of the falls. In the meantime, you walk over the impressive Victoria Falls bridge, constructed in 1905 as a railway bridge. I decided to walk across it - first about 10 minutes to the Zimbabwean border post and then some 2km more to the border post on the other side. I got a third look at the falls when I crossed the border from Zimbabwe to Zambia. Usually, they can move from island to island through the water, but at that time they were captured by the current. Last year, when the water was very high, even 5 elephants came tumbling down the Falls. they are not swimmers but walkers on the river bottom, and if the water is too high then it sometimes goes wrong.
We saw many hippos in the water and that naturally raises the question of whether they ever fall over the edge.
Victoria waterfall images full#
The guide stated that even if the engine of the boat failed, we would not fall off the Falls: the last few hundred meters are so full of rocks that the river is no longer navigable. We navigated to approximately 2 km from the Falls. There has been little rain this year and the Zambezi - although still very wide - is not exactly a roaring river. On the following day, I did a 'breakfast cruise' on the Zambezi river. The best photos can be taken from the side, at viewpoint #2 for example.
Due to a large amount of water falling down and the spray that creates, it was especially hard to see anything in the central part of the Falls. You hike for a bit, then make a small detour to a lookout point and then you continue on the original path. Here you walk down a path with 19 vantage points. I walked there in less than 10 minutes, that is how close they are to the town of Victoria Falls. My 'official' visit to the Falls started on the Zimbabwean side. But it is that huge waterfall making itself heard 24x7.
I saw the smoke and heard the thunder already the day before I visited the Falls itself – at the Ilalla Lodge where I was staying there is a constant noise as if there was an airport nearby. From Kasane, I was swiftly delivered in about an hour to Victoria Falls town in Zimbabwe.
Victoria Falls is an easy add-on to a Botswana trip because of its proximity to Kasane, the starting point or endpoint of most safari tours throughout the country. The pilot goes around twice: right & left side of the helicopter so all the passengers would enjoy the view. All the fog is actually on the side opposite of the falls where people walk but not much fog on the side of the falls. Views from above were surprisingly nice an clear. I also took a 15 minutes helicopter tour ($150+10% tax) which focused on the falls, longer tours seem to also fly above the game park to see wildlife. From the pictures at the entrance of the park, there are much less water in September / October. The others were a mix of fog & rain where you can't see much. There are about 15 view points, numbered from the east (farthest from Zambia) and only the first 4 or 5 were usable to see the magnificent falls. June was right after the end of the rainy season and there was a LOT of water in the falls. I visited the Zimbabwean side both walking and helicopter.įirst thing to know is that the falls vary dramatically depending on the rain.
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