Day 74 Wednesday May 20th (46 days to go) — We started this morning with a tour of Victoria Falls. The last time here I remained dry, but the guide told us to prepare to get wet. I gave him money last night and he went buy me multi-colored crocks. Since we both wore size 11, I donated the crocks to him after our morning tour. I took mostly videos but cannot upload these due to the Starlink issues around Africa. I was able to get a few uploaded, so turn on the volume for the full effect of the short videos.
Victoria Falls (Lozi: Mosi-oa-Tunya, “Thundering Smoke/Smoke that Rises”; Tonga: Shungu Namutitima, “Boiling Water”) is a waterfall on the Zambezi River, located on the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe. It is one of the world’s largest waterfalls, with a width of 1,708 m (5,604 ft). The region around it has a high degree of biodiversity in both plants and animals. Victoria Falls, spectacular waterfall located about midway along the course of the Zambezi River, at the border between Zambia to the north and Zimbabwe to the south.
Archaeology and oral history describe a long record of African knowledge of the site. Although known to some European geographers before the 19th century, Scottish missionary David Livingstone was introduced to the falls in 1855, naming them Victoria Falls after Queen Victoria. Since the mid-20th century, the site has been a major tourist destination. Zambia and Zimbabwe both have national parks and tourism infrastructure at the site. Research in the late 2010s found that precipitation variability due to climate change is likely to alter the character of the falls.
David Livingstone was the first European recorded to have viewed the falls on 16 November 1855, from an island now known as Livingstone Island, one of two land masses in the middle of the river, immediately upstream from the falls near the Zambian shore. Livingstone named his sighting in honor of Queen Victoria, but the Lozi language name, Mosi-oa-Tunya—”The Smoke That Thunders”—continues in common usage. The World Heritage List officially recognises both names. Livingstone also cited an older name, Seongo or Chongwe, which means “The Place of the Rainbow”, as a result of the constant spray.
The nearby national park in Zambia is named Mosi-oa-Tunya, whereas the national park and town on the Zimbabwean shore are both named Victoria Falls. Victoria Falls is classified as the largest based on its combined width of 1,708 meters (5,604 ft) and height of 108 meters (354 ft), resulting in the world’s largest sheet of falling water.
A famous feature is the naturally formed “Devil’s Pool”, an infinity pool that sits on the lip of Victoria Falls, on the Zambian side, along the western tip of Livingstone Island. When the river flow is at a certain level, usually between September and December, a rock barrier forms an eddy with minimal current, allowing adventurous swimmers to splash around in relative safety in front of the point where the water cascades over the falls. Because we visited during the end of the rainy season, this pool is not seen as the water levels are too high.
If you look close you can spot the rainbow through the trees
Preparing to fly from Victoria Falls to Cape Town.
Flying into Cape Town in the late afternoon.
Table Mountain in the background. We are going to visit it tomorrow. Weather is clear today but watch what happens tomorrow…laughing
Back to the ship. It is crazy that we loved the safari and Victoria Falls trip but were happy to return to the ship.
After putting our luggage away and getting the laundry out, we decided to go walking into the port area. It was very nice and clean with a large number of shops and restaurants. We were looking for Chinese food and found a restaurant. Stephen and Lorna were walking by and joined us for dinner as we shared our stories of the past five days. It was a great way to return back to The Vista.
The blank space below will probably not work but it is a 20 second video of the above photo. I will leave it here and attempt to add the video when we have better Wi-Fi coverage.
Tomorrow morning, we have an excursion to Table Mountain before we depart Cape Town
One thought on “Day 74 May 20 – Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe & Cape Town, South Africa”
I was writing you a note but it left the screen. I was saying that a huge thunder storm knocked out my internet box and I had not been able to view your page for a few day.