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I’m gazing out the window of the far back seat on the huge horizon of many different pastel blues and numerous bright, puffy cumulous clouds – almost picture perfect but we are too pressed for time to stop for photos. My feet are drying off – got soaked from the spray of Victoria Falls even with a heavy raincoat.

The falls are amazing – actually too overpowering to even view – they stretch over a mile long. You can only see parts of it at once, and even then, the massive volume of water tumbling 300 feet at this time of year churns up a spray hundreds of feed above and in front of the falls. We got there before 8am, and the parking lot was empty except for us. We practically had the falls to ourselves until later in the morning when more groups of tourists were coming through. At the parking lot entrance to the park, we decided it would be a good idea to rent raincoats and ponchos – for a couple of reasons. First, the guys renting them said it would be a good idea and they seemed pretty serious. Second, we noticed it was raining somewhat in the parking lot from a cloudless sky. And the sound of the falls was not all that loud yet. So this was a good clue that it would be a rather wet experience.

It was $20 US to get in. The first part of the falls you see from the Zimbabwe side is Devil’s Cataract. It’s an impressive waterfall in its own right. I don’t know if I’ve seen that much water tumbling in front of me before, but that is really the smallest portion of the falls. You walk along a path across from the falls and actually stand higher (I believe) than the point across where the Zambezi starts falling…so you are looking across and down. The only way to see the whole falls is from the air, and I wonder what the helicopter ride would have been like. For us, we could only walk along the falls as far as the Zambia border. The other part of it is in Zambia separated by a gorge. You can drive over the gorge and river on a bridge built in 1905, but we did not want to take the time or expense of a border crossing. And I don’t think anything compares with being as close as we were – hearing it, feeling it, tasting it, smelling it (if not seeing it). As you continue along the trail and stop at the lookout points, the water spray gets more intense and it comes down behind you as well. There is an actual rainforest in the area that is solely created by the spray/mist from the falls. The natives call this wonder “the smoke that thunders”. Pretty cool.

Click here to see more pictures from the area...

We did souvenir shoping in Victoria Falls after visiting the park. Then we ate at Wimpy's (that was safest), and started our drive back.

Windows Media Video clip(s):

Devil's Cataract 0:50