Tembea: The Smoke that Thunders

The Victoria Falls is the largest curtain of water in the world at a width of 1, 708 meters and a drop of between 90m and 107m into the Zambezi Gorge and an average of 550,000 cubic meters of water falling every minute. In the wet season over 500 million liters of water plummets over the edge into the Zambezi River generating a huge amount of spray which shoots 1000 feet into the sky and can be seen 30 miles away, hence the local name Mosi-oa-Tunya which means ‘Smoke that thunders.’ The unique geography of the falls means you can watch them face-on and get to enjoy the full force of the spray, noise and spectacular rainbows that are always present. The best time to view the Victoria Falls is during the rainy season from March to May, when they are at their most impressive. The falls were christened its English name by David Livingstone, the Scottish missionary and explorer, who is believed to have been the first European recorded to view the remarkable natural spectacle. He first viewed the falls from what is now known as ‘Livingstone Island’ in Zambia, the only land accessible in the middle of the falls. David Livingstone gave the falls the name ‘Victoria Falls’ in honor of his Queen, but the indigenous name of ‘Mosi-oa-Tunya’ - literally meaning the ‘Smoke that Thunders’ - is also well known and recognized. At the falls you can enjoy whitewater rafting, canoeing, kayaking, swinging through the gorge and bungee jumping apart from site seeing. At the Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park, you can view white rhinos, buffaloes, elephants and giraffe while Baboons and warthogs are a common sight. The Victoria Falls lie between Zambia and Zimbabwe in and fall in two national parks, Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park in Zambia and Victoria Falls National Park in Zimbabwe. The falls can be accessed from either Zimbabwe or Zambia. In Zimbabwe, the Victoria Falls town lies on the southern bank of the Zambezi River at the eastern end of the Victoria Falls themselves. Victoria Falls Airport is 18 km south of the town and has international services to Johannesburg and Namibia. Meanwhile in Zambia, Livingstone is a historic colonial city and tourism centre for Victoria Falls lying 10 km south on the Zambezi River, and a border town with road and rail connections to Zimbabwe on the other side of the Falls. The Airport has connections to Lusaka and Johannesburg in South Africa. Ends

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Tembea: The Smoke that Thunders