VICTORIA FALLS · ZIMBABWE
The smoke that thunders.
The greatest sheet of falling water on earth, the wide Zambezi above it and the gorge below. Sunset cruises, big-game safaris, helicopter flights, white water, and the day trips across into Zambia and Botswana.
Only at the falls
Three things only this waterfall can give you.
Plenty of places have a river cruise or a scenic flight. Only here can you swim on the very lip of the drop, raft the gorge the falls carved, and fly through the spray of the largest curtain of falling water on earth.
On the edge
Devil’s Pool
When the Zambezi drops to its low-water mark, a rock lip forms a natural pool right on the brink of the falls. You wade across from Livingstone Island and sit with your toes over a hundred-metre drop, the spray rising behind you. It opens for only part of the year, and it exists nowhere else on earth.
- 1 From Victoria Falls: Livingstone Island Tour & Devils Pool
- 2 Livingstone Victoria Falls Tour Zambia And Zimbabwe Combo
- 3 Small-Group Devil’s Pool and Livingstone Island Tour
Below the bridge
Rafting the Batoka Gorge
The same river that feeds the falls becomes one of the wildest one-day whitewater runs anywhere once it drops into the gorge. Grade five rapids with names like Stairway to Heaven and Oblivion, walled in by black basalt. Low water is when the big rapids run.
- 1 Zambezi River Class IV-V White-Water Rafting from Victoria Falls
- 2 Half Day Zambezi Whitewater Rafting
- 3 White Water Rafting in Zimbabwe
From the air
The Flight of Angels
From the ground you only ever see a slice of the falls. From a helicopter or an open microlight you get the whole mile-wide curtain at once, the zigzag gorges below, and often elephants on the Zambezi islands. Livingstone wrote that scenes so lovely must have been gazed on by angels in their flight.
- 1 Helicopter Scenic Flight over Victoria Falls 12-13 minutes Flight
- 2 Victoria Falls: Helicopter Tour with Hotel Pickup
- 3 Helicopter Scenic Flight over Victoria Falls 25-27 Minutes Game
The one everyone books
If you only book one, book this.
The most popular experience in Victoria Falls right now. Whatever else you plan, this is the one to lock in first.
The classics
Victoria Falls’ Most Popular Experiences
Sunset cruises, helicopter flights, Chobe safaris and the spray of the falls themselves. The experiences nearly everyone comes to Victoria Falls for.
Time it right
The river keeps two seasons.
The Zambezi swings hard between flood and low water, and it changes what you can actually do. Here is how to read the river before you book.
High water
February to May
Thunder and full spray
The river is in flood and the whole mile-wide curtain roars. Spray climbs hundreds of metres and soaks the footpaths. The falls at their most overwhelming, though the mist can hide the gorge and Devil’s Pool stays shut.
See the falls →Low water
August to January
Rock, rainbows and Devil’s Pool
The flow eases and the bare basalt face appears. This is when Devil’s Pool opens on the lip, the Batoka Gorge rapids reach their biggest, and the air clears for helicopter photos and clean rainbow shots.
Low-water adventures →By experience
Or pick how you want to feel it.
A cruise if you want the river and a sundowner. A flight if you want the whole curtain at once. Rafting, zipline and the gorge swing if you want your stomach in your throat. Safari if you came for the animals.
Border country
One base, three countries.
Victoria Falls town sits where Zimbabwe, Zambia and Botswana nearly meet. Stand on the falls in the morning, cross a bridge into Zambia after lunch, watch Botswana’s elephants the next day. Pick a country, build a day.
When the light goes gold
The sundowner cruise.
Drift out onto the Zambezi above the falls as the sky turns, hippos surface and a cold drink appears. The evening everyone remembers. These three are the ones to book.
On the doorstep
Big game without the long haul.
You don’t have to fly deep into the bush. Lions, elephants and buffalo graze in the parks around the falls and just over the river. Three safari days worth clearing your morning for.
After the spray
Where the evening goes.
Drumming and a feast of the eight tribes at the Boma, dinner under the stars, the Spirit of Africa show. How Victoria Falls spends the night. Our three favourites once the sun is down.
Just added