Waterfall Thundering Smoke

Mighty Zambezi, and with it Victoria Falls discovered by the famous Scottish traveler and explorer of Africa David Livingston. “This is the hammer of the gods,” the leader of the local tribe told him when, on November 16, 1855, Livingston unexpectedly saw a giant waterfall during one of his many expeditions. “Mosi-oa-Tunya” - “Thundering Smoke” - that’s what the locals call it.

Among the great rivers of Africa, the Zambezi ranks fourth, behind only the Nile, Congo and Niger. It originates on the stone plateaus of Central Africa and carries its waters to Indian Ocean. What adventures await you on its almost three-thousand-kilometer path from the source to the ocean. And rapids, and swamps, and lakes. But the main thing among these adventures is, of course, Victoria Falls!

Connecting with the Kwando River, becoming full-flowing and spilling almost two kilometers wide, the Zambezi runs to the ocean - and suddenly... Its bed is crossed by a narrow, zigzag crack in the rock, a hundred and twenty-meter cliff, on the very edge of which several rocks miraculously hang on , densely overgrown with trees! And the Zambezi, foaming, rushes into this abyss with noise and roar. Huge columns of spray are visible thirty kilometers from the waterfall.

It is the most famous and significant natural monument in southern Africa.

In general, the lands along the Zambezi, Africa's largest "fish river", are still largely virgin. Since there are no barriers or fences near Victoria Falls, an intrepid visitor can venture very close to this creation of nature. Among the rumbling water flows, which for millions of years have been tumbling into a crack only fifty meters wide, passes the state border between Zambia and Zimbabwe, and two-thirds of the waterfall is located on the territory of the latter.

Over a stretch of almost two kilometers, the water mass of Thundering Smoke is divided into five separate waterfalls, and each of them has its own and sometimes amusing name. From the eastern ledge one after another comes the Rainbow Falls, then the Horseshoe, and then, after the main waterfalls, the Devil's Ledge opens, next to which a monument to the glorious Livingston has long been erected.

From the Zambian side, you can go through a small tropical forest to the Knife's Edge, a narrow pass between the first and second ledges. From there you can see a breathtaking panorama of the Boiling Cauldron, the Peak of Danger and the two-hundred-meter-high road-railway bridge, which passes over the river at an altitude of almost one hundred meters. This bold structure was erected in 1904 as part of a railway linking Cape Town, South Africa, and Lubumbashi, Zaire.

The most beautiful parts of the Victoria Falls from a landscape point of view, which does not allow the use of the lower Zambezi as an international waterway, are located on the territory of Zimbabwe. There are also majestic crevasses, which a powerful stream formed over time from a system of narrow cracks. National Park"Victoria Falls" in Zimbabwe corresponds to the Zambian side national park“Mosi-oa-Tunya.”

Through the shallowed delta, the Zambezi flows into the Mozambique Strait. Geological findings related to the formation of the waterfall are kept in a museum next to the Mosi-oa-Tunya Intercontinental Hotel on east side. In the description of Victoria Falls, which is located in the highlands of the tropical zone in the south of Central Africa, dotted with rivers, swamps and lakes, almost all the figures claim to be a record.

Most high altitude The river reaches a drop of one hundred and seven meters at the Rainbow Falls. At the end of the rainy season, three hundred and forty million liters of water per minute fall from the ledges. At the beginning of November, when the dry period ends, eighteen million liters of water rush down into a crevice located at right angles to the previous direction of flow.

by Wagner Bertil

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Victoria Falls Recently, tourists have begun to combine a trip to South Africa with a visit to Victoria Falls. This is reasonable, since flying to the ends of the world just for the sake of a waterfall is impractical. A visit to it from South Africa takes literally a few hours. Of course this is not

Victoria is located in South Africa on the Zambezi River. Its width is 1708 meters and its height is 108 meters. This is 2 times higher Niagara Falls. His rivals are only Angel da Iguazu from South America.
The water falls across the entire width of the river into the abyss formed in the plateau.


The width of this particular abyss is 1708 meters. But its depth varies from 80 meters to 108 meters. On the crest of falling water there are 2 big islands. They are not flooded even when the river is in full flood. These are Boaruca Island and Livingston Island.

Victoria Falls during the rainy season.

Rainy season on the river. The Zambezi begins in November and ends in April. The rest of the year is the dry season. The peak of the flood occurs in April. At this time, the spray from the waterfall rises to a height of 400 meters and is visible for almost 50 km.

During the dry season, the islands become numerous. And from September to January a dry bottom is generally visible.

Discovery of the waterfall

Victoria Falls was discovered by Europeans and received its name from the discoverer.
The first European to see this natural wonder on the Zambezi was Scottish explorer David Livingstone in 1855, standing on what is now called Livingstone Island. He named the waterfall in honor of the English Queen - Victoria.


In the language of local tribes, the name of the waterfall sounds like Mosi-oa-Tunia, which translates as “Thundering Smoke”. In 2013, UNESCO recognized both names as official. Therefore, both “Victoria Falls” and “Thundering Smoke” are correct names for the waterfall.

Bridge next to the waterfall

A bridge was built next to the waterfall. It is turned to the water at an angle of 45 degrees. The length of the bridge is 250 meters. The bridge is located at an altitude of 125 meters above the river. Vehicles can cross the bridge.

Tourists

Since the late 90s of the last century, 300 thousand tourists visit Victoria every year. And the number of people wanting to see the falling water on the Zambezi continues to grow.

Devil's Pool

The most interesting place is the Devil's Pool. It is located on Livingston Island. The water flow in this place is at the same level from September to December. This allows desperate daredevils to swim next to the abyss.

Lack of access to the sea is not at all frustrating local population of Zimbabwe, they have enough miracles in rivers. And one of these miracles is Victoria Falls, surpassing Niagara in height.

This miracle was discovered by the English explorer and missionary David Livingston. At first, the waterfall only irritated him with its noise, but later the researcher saw all the beauty and power of the waterfall. AND sheer delight resulted in a flattering name in honor of Queen Victoria.

The indigenous population called it " thundering smoke"due to the noisy stream of water falling from a height of 108 km. Water dust rising to a height of up to 400 meters gives birth to huge, extraordinary rainbows that you will not find anywhere else.

Organize observation decks very difficult because Zambezi River flows into a narrow crevice, which is not possible to approach. But through this gorge passes Railway, opening inner world mighty waterfall.

During the rainy season, up to 500 million liters of water falls every minute, and during drought there are only a few streams. The Zambezi can turn from a deep, calm river into a difficult and dangerous river. Tourists who decide to raft on the river should not forget about this. The waterfall is reliably protected on all sides by nature reserves and is under the strict supervision of UNESCO.

One of the largest waterfalls in the world. It is located in South Africa on the river Zambezi. Water falls from a ledge 120 meters high into a deep and rather narrow basalt canyon, saturating environment giant columns of water dust that can be seen from a distance of 40 kilometers.

Victoria is the main attraction South Africa, located at the junction national parks Victoria Falls (Zimbabwe) and Thundering Smoke (Zambia), also included in World Heritage UNESCO.

It attracts tourists from all over the world and literally fascinates them with its uniqueness. The roar of the waterfall can be heard so far away that the hunters from the tribe Batoka They nicknamed him Mosi-oa-Tunya, which translated means “thundering smoke.” Matabele- the tribe living on the other side of the river also gave it a poetic name - “the place of the rainbow” (Chongue). sparkles here with all the colors and it looks very beautiful!

Ring rainbows are almost constantly visible above the gorge, and during the full moon you can sometimes see an amazing phenomenon here - lunar rainbow, which can only be found in some places in the world, for example, at Niagara Falls.

Victoria is surrounded on three sides by forested cliffs approximately 100 meters high. The forest growing along the banks is called Rain, and silvery refreshing rain really falls in these places all year round, the whole day, but it falls from a thundering gorge, and not from the sky.

If you float along the river to a waterfall, it will seem that a third bank suddenly appears across the current. This is exactly how the missionary saw Victoria David Livingston- Victoria's discoverer. Livingston was so amazed by the beauty that he immediately named it in honor of the Queen of Britain. A monument to this great explorer was erected on the shore of the waterfall.

Many eyewitnesses say that the most amazing sight at the waterfall is the columns of “thundering smoke” that look like huge torches over the abyss, in harmony with the golden rays of the sunset.

From a geological point of view, Victoria Falls is a crack formed due to the occurrence of rocks of different hardness - basalts and sandstones - in the vicinity. The width of this waterfall exceeds 1700 meters, the height is approximately 128 meters. The islets divide Victoria into five streams: Main Falls, Devil's Falls, Horseshoe Falls, East Falls and Rainbow Falls.