Victoria Falls

Mosi-oa-Tunya, or Victoria Falls as it is more commonly known, is a 344 foot tall, mile-plus wide waterfall along the Zambezi River on the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe (the majority of the viewpoints are on the Zimbabwean side of the river). The falls were formed as the Zambezi River eroded softer soil and bedrock separating a series of lateral volcanic dikes, which in turn created the narrow, zigzagging gorge below the falls. The river currently plunges over one of these dikes into the chasm hollowed out of softer bedrock. The depth of the gorge, and by proxy the height of the falls, varies from 260 feet at the end of the gorge to 344 feet in the center of the formation. Two islands divide the river into four main channels and each resulting waterfall has its own unique name; Devils Cataract, Main Falls, Rainbow Falls (the tallest part) and the Eastern Cataract. In addition to the four main segments, there are two other portions of the falls that have their own name as a descriptor: Armchair Falls (a narrow plunge that drops first into a notch in the rock, then falls into the gorge,) and Horseshoe Falls. Given the relatively minor status of these romantically described portions of the falls, we recognize the 4 main segments and relegate the two smaller segments to the footnotes. Because of the constriction and depth of the gorge which the falls plummet into, mist and spray from the falls rise straight up for over a hundred feet above the river above the falls, resulting in the apparent presence of a chasm with smoke rising out. The traditional name of the falls Mosi-oa-Tunya means "the Smoke that Thunders" in reflection of this characteristic. There is a hydroelectric facility which draws off a portion of the Zambezi River above the falls and returns it to the gorge just below the river. We don't know how much water is drawn off but it doesn't appear to have a great effect on the overall flow and appearance of the waterfall.The first European to see the falls was famous explorer Dr. David Livingstone, who stumbled upon the falls in November 1855. Archeological digs in the area have turned up evidence of human-made tools dating back as much as 50,000 years and evidence has shown there to have been distant relatives to the human species in the area as much as 3 million years ago, so even the African tribes who showed the falls to Dr. Livingstone were nowhere near the first to see the falls. The falls were traditionally known to the indigenous people as Mosi-oa-Tunya, or Smoke that Thunders. Livingstone bestowed its more common name of Victoria Falls upon his visit for England's Queen Victoria. We feel it more appropriate to use the native name, as it is equally recognized in the region. The falls became a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1989.