History of the waterfall

Victoria Falls by Thomas Baynes.

The oldest known inhabitants of the area around the falls were village hunters and gatherers, in their languages ​​the falls were called Shongwe, Amanza Thunqayo, Mosi-oa-Tunua ("thundering smoke"). The first European to see the waterfall was David Livingston. November 17, 1855, during the journey 1852-1856 from the headwaters of the Zambezi to the mouth of the river, Livingston reached the falls and swam to small island which was later named after him. Livingston was impressed by the Ngonye Falls, sailed upstream, saw a more impressive waterfall, and named it after Queen Victoria. He wrote about the waterfall: No one can compare the beauty with anything seen in England. This has never before seen the eyes of Europeans. Places so beautiful must have been seen by angels in flight.

In 1860, Livingston returned to the falls and made a detailed survey with John Kirk. Other European explorers visited the waterfall - the Portuguese Serpa Pinto, the Czech Emil Holub, the British artist Thomas Baynes, who painted some of the earliest paintings of the waterfall. Until the railroad was built into the area in 1905, it was rarely visited by Europeans.

Geography of the waterfall

Victoria Falls: aerial view (photo 2003).

The waterfall is located approximately in the middle of the course of the Zambezi River, approximately 21 degrees. S and 28 gr. o.d. Above the falls, the Zambezi flows over a flat slab of basalt in a valley bounded by low and sparse sandstone hills. In the course of the river there are islands, the number of which increases as you approach the waterfall.

The waterfall was formed in a place where the Zambezi falls sharply into a narrow (about 120 meters wide) crevice carved by its water in a break in the earth's crust. Numerous islets divide the waterfall on the crest, forming channels. Over time, the waterfall receded upstream, gnawing more and more crevices for itself. These crevices now form a zigzag river bed with sheer walls. They are clearly visible on satellite images.

The waterfall is extremely wide, approximately 1800 meters wide, the height of the water fall varies from 80 meters at the right bank of the waterfall to 108 meters in the center. Victoria Falls is about twice the height of Niagara Falls, and more than twice as wide as its main section (the "Horseshoe"). The falling water creates spray and fog that can rise to heights of 400 meters or more and are visible up to 50 kilometers away.

During the rainy season, more than 500 million liters of water per minute pass through the waterfall, due to the enormous force of the falling water, the spray rises hundreds of meters into the air. In 1958, during the Zambezi flood, a record level was recorded - more than 770 million liters per minute.

The waterfall is divided into four parts by islands on the edge of the abyss. Near the right bank of the river there is a sloping stream 35 meters wide, called "jumping water", further behind the island of Boaruka (300 meters wide) there is a main waterfall about 460 meters wide. Livingstone Island separates the main waterfall from the second channel (approximately 530 meters wide), the eastern waterfall is located on the very left bank of the river.

The only way out of the crevice where the water is now falling is a rather narrow channel pierced by water in its wall approximately 2/3 of the distance from the western end. This channel has a width of about 30 meters, and the entire volume of the river passes through it for about 120 meters, after which the river enters a zigzag gorge. The river does not leave this gorge for about 80 km, until it leaves the basalt plateau.

At the end of the first zigzag, the river enters a deep body of water called the Boiling Pot, about 150 meters across. In low water, the surface of the boiler is calm, but during high water it is covered with unhurried giant whirlpools (funnel) and swelling of the water surface. The walls of the gorge are over 120 meters high.

During the rainy season, up to 9100 cubic meters of water per second passes through the waterfall. At this time, the water drains through the main waterfall in a continuous stream. During the dry season, the waterfall is reduced to a few narrow streams, spray and fog are almost absent, the flow drops to 350 cubic meters per second. At this time, you can explore the depths of the gorge, usually flooded with water. Between the maximum flow in April and the minimum at the end of October, the water level in the gorges changes by almost 20 meters.

Railway bridge at Victoria Falls

Railway bridge at Victoria Falls.

Below Boiling Pot, almost at right angles to the waterfall, a bridge is thrown across the gorge, one of five located on the Zambezi River. The arch-shaped bridge has a length of 250 meters, the top of the bridge is 125 meters above the lower level of the river. Regular rail service connects the city of Victoria Falls and Livingston to Bulawayo, with another line connecting Livingston and Lusaka.

Tourism

The falls were hardly visited by people until the railroad to Bulawayo was completed in 1905. After commissioning railway they quickly gained popularity and retained it until the end of British colonial rule. A tourist town has grown up on the Zimbabwean side. In the late 1960s, the number of tourists decreased due to guerrilla warfare in Zimbabwe (Rhodesia) and the detention of foreign tourists under the rule of Vennet Konda in independent Zambia.

Zimbabwe's independence in 1980 brought relative peace, and in the 1980s a new wave of tourism began in the region. By the end of the 1990s, nearly 300,000 people were visiting the falls every year. In the 2000s, the number of tourists visiting Zimbabwe began to decrease due to unrest associated with the rule of Robert Mugabe.

Zimbabwe and Zambia allow visas for day trips across borders without prior application, however these visas are considered expensive.

Immediately after the waterfall, a section of the river begins with numerous rapids, which attracts fans of kayaking and rafting. The rapids are safe enough for novice tourists, with a large flow of water there are no dangerous stones, and after all the rapids there are sections of smooth water.

National parks

Thundering Smoke National Park (Mosi-oa-Tunya) in Zambia

The waterfall is located on the territory of two national parks- Thundering Smoke (Mosi-oa-Tunya) in Zambia and Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe. Both national parks are small, covering an area of ​​66 and 23 square kilometers, respectively.

The national parks contain rich wildlife, including significant populations of elephants and giraffes. The river at this location contains a large population of hippos.

Thundering Smoke National Park is also home to two white rhinos, which were brought there from South Africa.

A small cemetery has also been preserved on the site of an old English settlement.

Links

Coordinates : 17°55′28″ S sh. 25°51′24″ E d. /  17.924444°S sh. 25.856667° E d.(G)-17.924444 , 25.856667

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See what "Victoria Falls" is in other dictionaries:

Victoria (waterfall)- Victoria Falls. Panorama. VICTORIA, a waterfall in Africa (border of Zambia and Zimbabwe), on the Zambezi River, one of the largest in the world. Height 120 m, width 1800 m. Listed world heritage. Victoria Falls. Rainbow. Victoria Falls...

Waterfall- V grand canyon, USA. WATERFALL, the fall of water in a river from a ledge that crosses a river bed. Water can fall over several ledges, forming a series of cascade waterfalls; less steeply falling waterfalls are called waterfalls. Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe... Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary

This article lacks links to sources of information. Information must be verifiable, otherwise it may be questioned and removed. You can ... Wikipedia

A; m. A stream of water rapidly falling from a steep ledge. Mountain c. * * * Waterfall a drop of water in a river from a ledge that crosses the river bed. Water can fall over several ledges, forming a series of cascade waterfalls; less steeply falling waterfalls ... ... encyclopedic Dictionary

Free fall of a stream of water from a steep cliff. Many waterfalls are made up of a series of small falls, or cascades, as the water falls from one ledge to another. The difference between a cascade and a series of thresholds is rather conditional. The term threshold is usually applied to ... ... Collier Encyclopedia

Wikipedia has articles about other people named Victoria. Victoria Victoria ... Wikipedia

1) a waterfall on the river. Zambezi; border between Zambia and Zimbabwe. Discovered in 1855 by the English traveler D. Livingston and named after Queen Victoria. In the Makololo language (Bantu group), the waterfall is called Mosi oa Tunya thundering smoke, associating it with rising ... Geographic Encyclopedia

VICTORIA, waterfall on the river. Zambezi, in South. Africa. One of the largest in the world. Height 120 m, width 1800 m. HPP. Tourism… encyclopedic Dictionary

Sutherland, utigard, tugela, water skid, angel, victoria, cascade, iguazu, boyoma, padun, vitoria, cataract, havarny Dictionary of Russian synonyms. waterfall n., number of synonyms: 23 angels (1) ... Synonym dictionary

Victoria ( Victoria Falls), one of the largest waterfalls in the world. Located on the river Zambezi in South Africa. Width 1800 m. Water falls from a ledge 120 m high into a narrow (130 m) and deep (140 m) canyon in basalts, forming giant pillars ... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia

Victoria Falls is located, which is superior in width and is 120 meters, width - 1.8 km.

The Zambezi itself is a very calm river, which changes dramatically on the cliff of the basalt plateau. The river here overthrows in five powerful streams, dropping about 550 million liters of water into the gorge per minute. The force of the impact of the water mass on the rock below is so strong that it seems as if the spray turns into "steam" and forms columns of "smoke" of great height.

Victoria Falls is an unusual natural phenomenon. It was formed during the splitting of basalt into tectonic blocks, as a result of which a crack formed across the channel of the Zambezi River, which was then expanded by powerful water flows. River waters, squeezed by a narrow gorge, seethe and boil, creating a roar and rumble. Victoria Falls is only the beginning, which winds through a narrow gorge in zigzags along cracks in basalt rock for almost 70 km.

The strength of the flow of water varies depending on the season and time of year. In the spring, during floods, the water level in the Zambezi rises, and the waterfall fills with strength, becomes powerful, fast and impetuous. During drought, the nature of the waterfall is tamed, islands of land appear on the river and on the edge of the cliff.

If you swim upstream to the waterfall, it seems that the water goes into the ground, because you can see the “shore” in front of you along the river. Opposite the waterfall there is another cliff covered with continuous tropical forest.

Victoria Falls is famous for a rare phenomenon: magnificent "lunar rainbows". They are formed by the refraction of not only sunlight, but also moonlight. Night rainbows are especially attractive during the full moon, when the Zambezi River becomes full.

All tourists who decide to visit this attraction must take umbrellas, waterproof clothes and shoes with them. All equipment also requires protection from the splashes that the Victoria Falls creates. The photos taken here will cover all these chores with a vengeance. After all, only in this case the memories will remain imprinted.

Victoria Falls, which can be observed from several viewing platforms. One of the most successful is the bridge called “Knife Blade” - here you can see powerful streams of water and a place called “Boiling Cauldron”, where the river turns and goes into the Batoka Gorge. It is very convenient to evaluate beautiful place from the railway bridge thrown over the waterfall, as well as from the "Tree of Observation". Here the waterfall appears in all its frightening power and beauty.

Not far from the parking lot, where tourists begin their tour, there is a Museum of the history of the waterfall. Its exhibitions tell about the changes that Victoria Falls has undergone over its long history, and how the water has laid and continues to make new sections in the rock.

From the side of Zimbabwe, near the waterfall, there is the city of Victoria Falls with the reserve of the same name, as well as another national park called Mosi-oa-Tunya.

During an excursion to the waterfall, you can go canoeing or rafting along the river, go on a safari, go horseback riding or elephant riding. For lovers of adrenaline, bungee jumping is offered - jumping from highest point waterfall on a rope.

Victoria, a waterfall on the Zambezi River in South Africa. Located on the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe. The width of the waterfall is approximately 1800 meters, the height is 128 meters. The waterfall is an extraordinary sight - a narrow abyss into which water falls.

Scottish explorer David Livingstone visited the falls in 1855 and named it after Queen Victoria. Previously, the waterfall was known among the local population as "Thundering Smoke".

Victoria Falls is one of the main attractions of South Africa, belongs to the UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is located on the border of two national parks - "Thundering Smoke" ("Mosi-oa-Tunya") in Zambia and "Victoria Falls" in Zimbabwe.

Victoria is the only waterfall in the world over 100 meters high and over a kilometer long.

History of the waterfall

The oldest known inhabitants of the area around the falls were village hunters and gatherers, in their languages ​​the falls were called Shongwe, Amanza Thunqayo, Mosi-oa-Tunua ("thundering smoke"). The first European to see the waterfall was David Livingston. November 17, 1855, during the journey 1852-1856 from the headwaters of the Zambezi to the mouth of the river, Livingston reached the falls and swam to a small island, which was later named after him. Livingston was impressed by the Ngonye Falls, sailed upstream, saw a more impressive waterfall, and named it after Queen Victoria. He wrote about the falls: No one can compare the beauty with anything seen in England. This has never before seen the eyes of Europeans. Places so beautiful must have been seen by angels in flight.

In 1860, Livingston returned to the falls and made a detailed survey with John Kirk. Other European explorers visited the waterfall - the Portuguese Serpa Pinto, the Czech Emil Holub, the British artist Thomas Baynes, who painted some of the earliest paintings of the waterfall. Until the railroad was built into the area in 1905, it was rarely visited by Europeans.

Geography of the waterfall

Odofall is located approximately in the middle of the course of the Zambezi River, approximately 21 degrees. S and 28 gr. o.d. Above the falls, the Zambezi flows over a flat basalt slab in a valley bounded by low and sparse sandstone hills. In the course of the river there are islands, the number of which increases as you approach the waterfall.

The waterfall was formed in a place where the Zambezi falls sharply into a narrow (about 120 meters wide) crevice carved by its water in a break in the earth's crust. Numerous islets divide the waterfall on the crest, forming channels. Over time, the waterfall receded upstream, gnawing more and more crevices for itself. These crevices now form a zigzag river bed with sheer walls. They are clearly visible on satellite images.

The waterfall is extremely wide, approximately 1800 meters wide, the height of the water fall varies from 80 meters at the right bank of the waterfall to 108 meters in the center. Victoria Falls is about twice as high Niagara Falls, and more than twice as wide as its main part ("Horseshoe"). The falling water creates spray and fog that can rise to heights of 400 meters or more and are visible up to 50 kilometers away.

During the rainy season, more than 500 million liters of water per minute pass through the waterfall, due to the enormous force of the falling water, the spray rises hundreds of meters into the air. In 1958, during the Zambezi flood, a record level was recorded - more than 770 million liters per minute.

The waterfall is divided into four parts by islands on the edge of the abyss. Near the right bank of the river there is a sloping stream 35 meters wide, called "jumping water", further behind the island of Boaruka (300 meters wide) there is a main waterfall about 460 meters wide. Livingstone Island separates the main waterfall from the second channel (approximately 530 meters wide), the eastern waterfall is located on the very left bank of the river.

The only way out of the crevice where the water is now falling is a rather narrow channel pierced by water in its wall approximately 2/3 of the distance from the western end. This channel has a width of about 30 meters, and the entire volume of the river passes through it for about 120 meters, after which the river enters a zigzag gorge. The river does not leave this gorge for about 80 km, until it leaves the basalt plateau.

At the end of the first zigzag, the river enters a deep body of water called the Boiling Pot, about 150 meters across. In low water, the surface of the boiler is calm, but during high water it is covered with unhurried giant whirlpools (funnel) and swelling of the water surface. The walls of the gorge are over 120 meters high.

During the rainy season, up to 9100 cubic meters of water per second passes through the waterfall. At this time, the water drains through the main waterfall in a continuous stream. During the dry season, the waterfall is reduced to a few narrow streams, spray and fog are almost absent, the flow drops to 350 cubic meters per second. At this time, you can explore the depths of the gorge, usually flooded with water. Between the maximum flow in April and the minimum at the end of October, the water level in the gorges changes by almost 20 meters.

Railway bridge at Victoria Falls

Below Boiling Pot, almost at right angles to the waterfall, a bridge is thrown across the gorge, one of five located on the Zambezi River. The arch-shaped bridge has a length of 250 meters, the top of the bridge is 125 meters above the lower level of the river. Regular rail service connects the city of Victoria Falls and Livingston to Bulawayo, with another line connecting Livingston and Lusaka.

The waterfalls were hardly visited by people until the railroad to Bulawayo was built in 1905. After the introduction of the railway, they quickly gained popularity and retained it until the end of British colonial rule. A tourist town has grown up on the Zimbabwean side. In the late 1960s, the number of tourists decreased due to guerrilla warfare in Zimbabwe (Rhodesia) and the detention of foreign tourists under the rule of Vennet Konda in independent Zambia.

Zimbabwe's independence in 1980 brought relative peace, and in the 1980s a new wave of tourism began in the region. By the end of the 1990s, nearly 300,000 people were visiting the falls every year. In the 2000s, the number of tourists visiting Zimbabwe began to decrease due to unrest associated with the rule of Robert Mugabe.

Zimbabwe and Zambia allow visas for day trips across borders without prior application, however these visas are considered expensive.

Immediately after the waterfall, a section of the river begins with numerous rapids, which attracts fans of kayaking and rafting. The rapids are safe enough for novice tourists, with a large flow of water there are no dangerous stones, and after all the rapids there are sections of smooth water.

National parks

The waterfall is located on the territory of two national parks - Thundering Smoke (Mosi-oa-Tunya) in Zambia and Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe. Both national parks are small, covering an area of ​​66 and 23 square kilometers, respectively.

The national parks contain rich wildlife, including significant populations of elephants and giraffes. The river at this location contains a large population of hippos.

Thundering Smoke National Park is also home to two white rhinoceroses, which were brought there from South Africa.

A small cemetery has also been preserved on the site of an old English settlement.

Since thanks to Scottish explorer, doctor and missionary Livingston, the world learned about the waterfall, which he named after his Queen Victoria, guests from different countries. Agree, it would be strange to be near the Thundering Smoke and refrain from visiting such a bright landmark of Africa? And we went there. I was driving and imagining how the Discovery was made… After a long drought, the river was low. But during the night, nature recovered a little from the heat, and the warm clear water smelled of freshness ...

The first European on the Zambezi River at the waterfall

So it was. The water level dropped sharply due to drought, but it is not for nothing that the name Zambezi in the local dialect means “great river”. Tropical dragonflies swooped over the countless green islands that divided its vast expanse. Innumerable legions of water birds - gulls, waders, cormorants - fed on the rocky shallows, African skimmers silently maneuvered over the very surface, fishing eagles scanned the depths in search of fish.

The hippos were basking serenely in the sun, when a narrow, fidgeting mokoro swam right next to two dark heads. The rower stood on back side dugout boat and deftly, in complete silence, controlled it with a long pole. The punt tacked in the middle of the river between slippery and jagged black rocks, overcame the furious streams surrounding them, glided over rare patches of relatively calm water.

She was heading towards the roaring abyss, where the whole mass rushed water flow. A white cloud of mist hung over the cliff, which continuously fluctuated, then descending, then rising again. A few more heads of hippos surfaced, which, as if seeing off, turned their small round ears after the boat ...

Mysterious Natural Phenomenon - Thundering Smoke

In the middle of the 19th century, many believed that the center of the continent was desert. And he, now for many months, listened to reverent talk about "Mosi oa Tunya." Thundering Smoke… And I thought about this phenomenon. What is this? Possibly in an unexplored part inner Africa is there a large volcanic area? And he went to find this volcano and put it on the map.

But I found something much more wonderful. On one of the days of the trip, suddenly, under a cloudless sky, a rainbow appeared on the horizon. Then distant thunder was heard in the hot midday atmosphere, and five columns of smoke were visible above the treetops, as if large patches of grass were burning in the savannah.

All this was incredibly strange, he had to face such phenomena for the first time in his life. It is noteworthy that in a district of sixty miles there was not a single local settlement, and this is not surprising: after all, people were convinced that Thundering Smoke was the domain of an evil and cruel Great Spirit.

The black faces of his native companions turned gray at the mere thought of approaching his abode. But he was not in the least superstitious or timid and considered it his duty to study this part of the continent before - after all, he was a missionary! - bring here the light of Christianity.

Day after day, he went over in his mind the possible causes of these incomprehensible natural phenomena, until he found himself on the threshold of the greatest waterfall in the world. One of the five great rivers of Africa, the Zambezi, flowing through a spacious valley a good mile wide, interrupted its smooth flow here. Across the channel was a giant crack in the earth's crust. The water made its way to it through the fringe of small islands and with desperate madness rushed into the abyss.

In the footsteps of the great traveler

And so, on November 16, 1855, with a pencil and notebook in his pocket, the greatest explorer in history, David Livingston, sails to one of these patches of land. The islet borders on one of its edges with a waterfall. What a restless European will see, sprawled on his stomach and tremblingly looking into the foamy abyss behind the sheer and inky-smooth ledge, from which a thick curtain of water fell, will amaze him for life ...

But these two old pictures of Victoria Falls, placed in the article, were not made by the hand of a great traveler, but by a completely different European - Thomas Baines, who reached Thundering Smoke on the Zambezi River a few years later than Livingston.

Pay attention to the lower right corner of the photo with the monument, the same mokoro boats are included in the composition.

Victoria Falls is included in the list of natural sites of the World Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO. From the Chobe National Park, where we were, this wonder of the world is not far to go. But the whole difficulty was that, under the terms of renting our car, we could only drive around Namibia and Botswana.

I had to arrange at the hotel so that they would take us to the Rainbow Hotel in Victoria Falls Zimbabwe on their transport, and take us back a day later.

Without delay, I quickly left things in my bag for two days, Sanya carefully prepared a photo backpack and here we are on a safari car going to the border with Zimbabwe. It’s good that we left early: by 8 o’clock a huge queue lined up behind us at the border. We were also lucky with the ranger who accompanied us: he spoke with the immigration officer, helped quickly get a visa, and handed us over to a Zimbabwean driver who, in a rattling minivan, dropped us off at the hotel in the town of Victoria Falls two hours later.

How to convey the greatness of the waterfall? What kind of art is this for? For more than a hundred years, poets, writers and artists have tried to pay tribute to the outstanding sights of the black continent and, to the best of their talents, immortalize it in their creations. But the time has come and digital cameras have appeared that can capture the greatness and beauty of water flying down to the drop.

Now Victoria Falls is captured in millions of photos. We intend to add our contribution to them by filming sunset and dawn, and to make these shots with all our skill - after all, he impressed us no less than his discoverer.

From heaven, like one of the angels

Huge, powerful and unspeakably beautiful waterfall Victoria ... Even the angels of heaven in flight are staring at him - so was his discoverer Livingston! Indeed, in order to appreciate its scale and understand how it works, you need to look at the thundering smoke of Mosi-oa-Tunya from above. Well, takeoff team?

Victoria Falls is located approximately halfway between the source of the Zambezi and its mouth.

To this special section of its channel, the river approaches wide and calm. It slowly flows over flat terrain, forming wide floodplains. Sheer idyll: legged herons catch pop-eyed frogs aground, elephants eat purple hyacinths knee-deep in water and splash water on each other, eland antelopes graze on the shore ...

And suddenly, absolutely unexpectedly, the riverbed is cut by a narrow crack. As if on the living body of the Earth, someone had just slashed with a sharp knife and the edges of the cut had not yet parted. And a powerful water avalanche poured into the gaping wound from the entire width of the river.

In a cloud of spray, with a deafening noise and accompanied by a slight shudder of the earth's interior, it falls into a deep abyss and seems to go into unknown depths. And this phenomenon of the sudden disappearance of a wide river is amazing.

Below the waterfall, there is again an almost flat area, which is cut in sharp zigzags by several almost bottomless gorges, along which, raging, the Zambezi River runs further. But more on that later.

Interesting facts: the height of the Victoria Falls and more

So, a powerful water avalanche falls into a narrow abyss with steep walls, located at a right angle to the upper channel. Let's hover for a minute right above the waterfall, but first a few numbers. Because statistics knows everything:

• The length of the Victoria Falls (coinciding with the width of the Zambezi River in this place) is 1708 meters.
• The width of the gorge is from one side to the opposite from 50 to 120 meters.
• The depth of the earth fault at its western end is 80, in the middle - 108 meters. For clarity, the bell tower of my beloved would be hidden there along with the ball and cross crowning it.
• Just imagine: every minute 500 million liters of water slips over the edge into the abyss during the rainy season. In dry - much less, only 10 million liters. Compare - our standard bath holds about 200 liters of water.
• The creations of the Victoria Falls are clouds of fog saturated with moisture. They envelop the seething gorge and reach for the sky, you can notice them even from a distance of 50 km.

More about Victoria Falls

And how does he look against the background of his brothers? Strikingly and unexpectedly, it is not the highest, and not the widest, and not even the most full-flowing.

waterfalls	Height (meters)	Width (meters)	Average consumption water (cubic meters/sec)	Maximum water consumption (cub.m/sec)
Victoria	108	1708	1088	12800
Niagara	53	792	2400	5720
Iguazu	60-82	2700	1756	6000
Angel	979	107	300	?

And the peculiarity of this grandiose miracle of African nature is that, firstly, this waterfall is located not in the mountains, but in the middle of the flat terrain. Secondly, none of them has such a wide curtain of falling water. A mountain of diamonds is pouring down ... It creates favorable conditions for numerous magnificent rainbows that connect the opposite edges of the gorge.

By the way, do you know, friends, that a rainbow is not an arc at all, but a circle?

What is a rainbow

It has been known since school that a rainbow is a special optical phenomenon that occurs when the rays of the sun are refracted in tiny drops of water. “The stream is swift and bright, It rushes down in an alluring dance, Dozens of colorful rainbows lit up colorfully under the sun ...” The beautiful sight of a double rainbow is not such a rare occurrence. It was seen by many after heavy rain, when the air is oversaturated with water drops, the sunlight is refracted again.

We are all used to thinking that the rainbow has the shape of an arc, because that is how people see it, standing on the surface of the earth. But if you observe this phenomenon from a height, for example, from an airplane, then the viewer will see a full circle of a series of colors - red on the outside, orange and so on, ending with purple on the inside.

It is rare to see this, and it is even rarer to photograph it. On the AirPano website, Russian photographers proudly present a photo of a round rainbow at Victoria Falls, taken while shooting panoramas for the project.

Victoria Falls is famous not only for its bright and juicy double, triple daytime rainbows, it is one of the few places on earth where there are great chances to catch and film such a rare and amazing natural phenomenon as a moon rainbow.

Are you surprised? How can you see a rainbow at night, because it is the result of the refraction of sunlight? Friends, the correction is not the sun, but the light rays! This effect is possible when the full moon provides enough light and the sky is dark and clear. The lunar rainbow is perceived by the human eye as pale and white, although in fact it is the same multi-colored.

There are even misty rainbows here. They are very weakly colored and appear on the columns of water suspension.

In the First Gorge along the crest of the waterfall

Follow me, reader! Look: the river bed breaks in such a way that the front of the waterfall looks like an almost straight wall. During low water, only separate streams fall along the rocky surface of the wall. Exposed areas of basalt, drying up, stretch almost to the very bottom of the gorge. At this time it becomes possible (although not entirely safe) to walk along the crest of the waterfall, crossing the exposed shallows, treacherous stones and sections of the river, so deceptively calm before a sharp fall.

The structure of the Victoria Falls from west to east looks like this:

• The first stream - 35 meters wide and 61 meters high - is called the waterfall (or cataract) of the Devil.
• It is followed by the island of Boaruka (Cataract), three hundred meters wide, on which the natives worshiped the evil deity of the waterfall and brought him gifts.
• Behind the island begins the main cascade of the waterfall, called Main Falls. Its width is 460 and its height is 83 meters.
• This is followed by the island of Livingston, overgrown with trees and bushes. It was here that the mokoro of an outstanding African explorer moored.
• The third, disappearing in the dry season, horseshoe-shaped stream is Horseshu.
• Next comes the place of the most beautiful rainbows - 99-meter Rainbow Falls.
• The last one is the Eastern Cataract - the eastern waterfall, 98m high.

Zimbabwe or Zambia?

Oh, how we wanted to see an amazing natural phenomenon from above! But the helicopter flight cost so much that, tormented by this amount, we overcame our passionate desire. Legs, legs - closer to nature, we decided. And, having caught a taxi, we went from the hotel to watch the waterfall from our Zimbabwean side, because there was still time before sunset.

Victoria Falls is divided between the two countries of Zambia and Zimbabwe, therefore it is part of two national parks at once - Mosi-oa-Tunya and Victoria Falls with an area of ​​66 square meters. km and 23 sq. km, respectively. You can cross the bridge to the Zambian side, but we were afraid that without a yellow fever vaccination they would not let us in, so our dreams did not extend to the Zambian side.

However, looking ahead, I will say that we were wrong and this time we managed to visit Zambia without much difficulty and with little financial loss. But the rules for obtaining a visa, unfortunately, often change and the next year we did not cross the Zambian border: we canceled one-day visas, and it would be stupid to buy a monthly visa, which costs $ 50 per person for a couple of hours in the country.

Watch Victoria Falls

We walked in the little Victoria Falls park for almost four hours, until dusk. Of course, we took a photo for memory at the bronze figure of Livingston, who does not take his eyes off his discovery. We were in Victoria Falls in early May, when the power of the waterfall was just beginning to decline, and it was incomparable!

On the shore opposite the water curtain, there is a tropical rainforest - thick bushes and groves of mahogany, figs and date palms, walking paths with many viewing platforms from different viewpoints of the waterfall. The waters of the Zambezi River rumbled, we did not take our eyes off the huge rushing streams. Clouds of water dust, then completely covered the waterfall, then, like clouds, spread to the sides. Hundreds of little sparks danced around and the brightest rainbows I had ever seen played.

Friends, remember: the stones on the cliffs are wet, which means they are slippery, branches and thorns are scattered on the edges of the observation platforms, so it is advisable to choose shoes for the excursion with reliable fixation and hard soles. Ankle-fastening hiking sandals are great, they will be quite comfortable in them.

Clothing here should be worn such that it is not a pity to get wet, even better if it dries quickly. My version with denim breeches was far from the best. But I want to note that a raincoat with a hood, usually recommended for tourists for such a walk, is completely meaningless. Yes, it will protect you from splashes. But, since it is forty degrees outside, under it you will sweat as if you were just wet. From my point of view, honestly getting wet is preferable.

A major dry season bonus: at this time, another rare opportunity is available on the Zimbabwean side - the view of the Victoria Falls from the bottom of the gorge, from where the water usually boils.

Where are we to sail?

A huge mass of water compressed in a narrow space is looking for a way out and finds it in one single narrow and short gap leading to the second gorge. Entering it, a powerful stream turns sharply, forming a so-called boiling cauldron with whirlpools.

From here begins a zigzag cascade of narrow gorges with steep, 120–240 meter walls. Together with the Victoria Falls themselves, there are now eight of them. Did you notice the word "now"?

Different secrets of the Mosi-oa-Tunya waterfall

It's all about secrets - it all starts with them. For me, my acquaintance with Victoria Falls began at school age with an exciting search for treasures that were safely hidden by Kaffir kings in a hiding place behind falling streams. How many unforgettable adventures I had to go through with the heroes of Boussenard...

For many adults, Thundering Smoke beckons with a veil of mystery that is hidden in ancient legends about a giant black snake with a gray-blue head. Chipik, a dangerous and fat monster lives in Mosi-oa-Tunya and pulls people into the depths with the help of an unknown force. Well, yes, of course, they saw him.

No, it was not only Africans with a fervent imagination who saw it. Here, for example, is a testimony from 1925 of a certain Mr. V.Pare, who, in shallow water, descended along the rocks into the canyon. Suddenly, in front of him, a snake-like monster shot up from the water, standing literally on its tail. Several long seconds passed before the terrible creature disappeared into the depths of the cave at the foot of the Devil's cataract...

God knows who this man was and why no one allows himself to doubt the veracity of his story, but there were too many cases of this kind to simply give up on them. There is definitely something going on here.

But the true secret of Mosi oa Tunya is connected with the origin of this geological formation, consisting of a waterfall and seven steep gorges adjacent to it.

How did the Victoria Falls come about?

Now geologists adhere to such a theory. In the Jurassic period, a huge stream of fiery lava splashed out through cracks in the earth's crust. He created that basalt plateau, on which the Zambezi River now flows. But before that, many millions of years still had to pass. Cooling down, the basalt burst, the cracks were slowly filled with sandstone - a much less durable material than basalt.

And when the powerful stream of the Zambezi flowed over the fractures filled with sandstone, the river began its endless work of washing out the rocks, gradually, over thousands of years, forming a deep gorge with a wide waterfall falling into it. The earliest version of Victoria Falls formed about 5 million years ago and was much further downstream than the modern one. Then the water fell from a cliff 140 m high, and its length was 3.3 km - a much larger formation.

The work of the water continued - it eroded the sandstone in the next crack upstream, and the waterfall zigzag moved. This is the eighth waterfall in the last 100,000 years. And not the last. The Devil's cataract is the starting point for the formation of his next position. The satellite image shows two existing, not yet eroded, but very suitable cracks in the basalt.

Devil's Pool and other entertainment

As soon as we settled into the hotel, we went to see what they breathe in the town. What I saw made me think. It turned out that after the economic crisis in Zimbabwe they live quietly without a national currency. For a hang glider, a helicopter, a bungee, a visit to a park with a waterfall - all prices are not only in dollars, but they also really bite.

Zimbabweans are resourceful. To empty the pockets of tourists at Victoria Falls, they offer a lot of exciting opportunities - canoeing and watching the sunset in a canoe, fishing on the Zambezi, rafting on the white water of the Zambezi River ... But many of the proposals are quite dangerous.

For example, swimming in a small pool at the very edge of the waterfall near Livingston Island. It is not known when and who first discovered this oddity in the riverbed, but it attracts tourists with hypnotic power. The Devil's Font is a three-meter hole with water, a natural stone barrier separates it from the roaring abyss. The area of ​​the devil's pool is not fenced off in any way from the fast and furious currents surrounding it, and, of course, tragic cases happen here!

On a bridge full of adrenaline

Through the Second Gorge, obliquely to the waterfall, an arch bridge is thrown, its length is 198 meters and the height is 128 meters above the Zambezi level. This engineering structure is part of the ambitious plan of Cecil John Rhodes - a politician, industrialist, financier and just an extraordinary person who constantly walked around in an old shirt and trousers, although he was the diamond king and founder of the De Beers corporation.

The bridge was built as an element of a strategically important railway that started in Cape Town, crossed the Zambezi River and, according to plans, was supposed to end in Cairo. Fortune turned its back on Rhodes, the grandiose plan did not materialize, but the railway bridge that was built is still functioning perfectly.

Additionally, it is used for pedestrian and vehicular traffic. We stopped to take a few photos as heavy trucks transited the bridge purring as they passed the breathtaking vistas of the Victoria Falls.

So, not only can you cross the bridge to the other side, it offers a cool opportunity to jump head down on a rope. Interesting, but why are most bungee jumpers made up of women?

Once 22-year-old Australian Erin Langworthy succumbed to the temptation to swing on such a giant swing, but it didn’t work out. While bungee jumping off a bridge, the rubber rope holding her snapped. Free fall began at a height of 110 meters. Poor Erin - head down and with her feet tied - flew straight into the river, infested with crocodiles. The reptiles, which were obviously bored before, immediately became interested ...

Fortunately, they managed to save the girl, she escaped with only a fright, a broken collarbone, severe bruises and numerous bruises. But… is it worth the risk? Here is the video of the incident:

We did not take risks, but just stood this bridge for a while. Livingston dedicated his remarkable discovery to Queen Victoria, but although she lived for a long time, she never saw this impressive waterfall. But in April 1947, her great-grandson George VI came here with his wife and two daughters.

One of the princesses - then still very young Lilibet - will become Elizabeth II in the future. From this bridge, the royal family looked at the Zambezi River for a long time, on which two islands received new names in honor of the royal daughters. Now Princess Elizabeth Island belongs to Zimbabwe, and Princess Margaret Island belongs to sovereign Zambia.

View from Zambia to Thundering Smoke

They do not say "Zimbabwe" or "Zambia" here, the names of countries are shortened to short Zim and Zam. There is a hot, almost hot sun in the dark blue sky, it sets behind us. It's time to leave Zim and get to Zambia. We walk across the bridge, past the queue for the bungee, past the line of cars at the border control.

"Are you long? Are you planning to spend the night in Zimbabwe? We answer: “Yes”, we are stamped with passports, then a standard wet rag, we pay for entrance to the park. “And it’s cheaper here,” we rejoice, get a leaflet with route options and go through Zambian soil.

Here we are the only whites - also a kind of attraction. We, as wedding generals, are constantly asked to stand to enliven the composition in the center of the laughing groups. Here the park is called “Thundering Smoke”, there is also a monument to Livingston, here is the same waterfall of stunning beauty, the same splashes and sparks.

Only here it’s not fog, but a wall of water dust through which you have to go. How right those who say that the miracle of Victoria Falls must be seen, both from the side of Zambia and from Zimbabwe.

Ooy! A gust of wind, a second tropical downpour and we, wet as mice, there is not a single dry thread. After waiting for the next flock of visitors to pass us, I pulled off my jeans and T-shirt, Sanya wringed them out and I pulled everything back on. I managed in time - another group of also wet and happy Chinese walked by.

Near the park there is a small souvenir market. Everything that was offered to us in Zimbabwe cannot be compared with the local assortment of elephants, hippos, figurines made of ebonite wood. It was more difficult to walk back across the bridge, the hands were pulling away the souvenirs. We were among the last to cross the border, when the sun was almost at the horizon.

Who wants to be a trillionaire?

The town of Victoria Falls greeted us with a hubbub of street beggars and merchants. They, seeing a bunch of packages and bundles in our hands, became two, no, three times more insistent. Buy that... Buy that, sir! Very cheap... But in Zim, one of the poorest countries in Africa, everything is shockingly expensive. However, Sanya could not resist and became the owner of a trillion dollars. True, Zimbabwean and out of circulation after the default, but still TRILLION - on the stunning banknote, the zeros barely fit in one line.

Do you know about the annual Ig Nobel Prize, which is a parody of the Nobel Prize? It is always funny and is awarded for useless and meaningless discoveries. A worthy reward for its laureates is a hammer in a glass box or a similar wonderful denomination - genuine one hundred trillion Zimbabwean dollars in one piece of paper.

What could the Zimbabweans get for their fabulous money? Almost nothing, even chocolates could not be bought for such a bill. The Central Bank of Zimbabwe, conducting currency exchange in the country, sparingly measured out one good old American dollar for 250 trillion dollars in national currency. The glory days for dreaming of being a billionaire ended after dollarization, and the number of millionaires itself has declined sharply - after all, the average salary in the country is about $ 253 per month.

Adventure comes to an end

Twilight came, for a billion people across Africa, another day was ending with its joys and difficulties ... We had dinner at the hotel at a table by the pool. Tonight, a local ethnic ensemble performed here. Seeing us as the only and interested audience, the artists gradually focused around us, which allowed us to record their inspired songs and dances on the phone.

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1. Victoria Falls is located on the Zambezi River, the fourth largest in Africa, on the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia. The width of the waterfall is approximately 1800 meters, the height is 108 meters.

2. The waterfall was formed in a place where the Zambezi falls sharply into a narrow (about 120 meters wide) crevice carved by water in a break in the earth's crust. Numerous islands on the ridge divide the waterfall, forming channels. Over time, the waterfall receded upstream, gnawing more and more crevices for itself. These crevices now form a zigzag riverbed with sheer walls.

3. Victoria is the only waterfall in the world that is over 100 meters high and over a kilometer wide.

4. It is believed that the first European to see the falls was David Livingston. November 17, 1855, while traveling from the headwaters of the Zambezi to the mouth of the river (1852-1856), Livingston reached the falls and named it after Queen Victoria.

5. The force of the impact of multi-ton masses of water on the rock from below is such that the water turns into "steam" and is knocked out back by columns of "smoke" several hundred meters high, visible from a distance of tens of kilometers. Almost at the same distance, a thunderous rumble is heard. In the language of the Kololo tribe who lived here in the 1800s, "Mosi-oa-Tunya" - "Smoke that thunders."

6. There are two islands on the crest of the falls that are large enough to part the curtain of water even in full flood: Boaruka Island (or Stream Island) near the western shore, and Livingston Island near the middle. The main streams are called: Leaping Water (called by some Devil's Stream), Main Falls, Rainbow Falls (highest) and East Stream.


7. During the rainy season, more than 500 million liters of water per minute pass through the waterfall, and in 1958, during the Zambezi flood, a record level of flow was recorded - more than 770 million liters per minute.

8. After the waterfall, the river flows through a series of narrow and steep gorges with many turns, and then enters a large lake called the "Boiling Cauldron" - because of the numerous whirlpools, it seems that the water is really boiling in it.

9. Victoria Falls belongs to two national parks- "Thundering Smoke" (Zambia) and "Victoria Falls" (Zimbabwe). On their territory there are many wild animals and more than a hundred species of birds. In 1989, the waterfall was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

10. At Victoria Falls, a rare natural phenomenon is observed - lunar rainbows. After all, a rainbow arises as a result of refraction and decomposition into component parts of the spectrum of light rays not only of the sun, but also of the moon. The nighttime rainbows over Victoria are especially splendid on the full moon, twice a year, when the Zambezi is at its most full-flowing.


11. The waterfalls were hardly visited by people until the railroad to Bulawayo was built in 1905. After the introduction of the railway, they quickly gained popularity and retained it until the end of British colonial rule.

12. Below the "Boiling Cauldron", approximately at an angle of 45 degrees to the waterfall, a bridge is thrown across the gorge, one of five located on the Zambezi River. The arch-shaped bridge has a length of 250 meters, the top of the bridge is 125 meters above the lower level of the river.

13. At the very edge of Victoria Falls there is a place called Devil's Pool. This is a small area of ​​water where you can swim in September and December without fear of being blown down the falls thanks to the rock that protrudes in this place. The pool is popular with tourists who love risk, although according to statistics, on average, one person per year dies from swimming here.