When David Livingston, the seasoned Scottish missionary and explorer, first came upon these roaring falls, one of the largest in the world, he was so impressed he named it after Queen Victoria, England’s long reigning monarch. To the natives of the region, however, the falls were Mosi-oa-Tunya, or “Thundering Smoke.”
I tried, I really did. This was supposed to be my last post on our African Safari. But when I looked through the last thousand photos of scenery, people, and a catch-all-miscellaneous that I considered blog worthy, I just couldn’t do it. Eventually, I got the thousand down to 82. I’ve divided them into three posts. Today I will focus on Victoria Falls and the surrounding area. The second post will wrap-up Chobe National Park, Hwange National Park and Lake Kariba. The last post will feature South Africa.
We arrived at Victoria Falls at the end of dry season when the water flow was close to its lowest. Imagine what this looks like at the height of rainy season! Based on its combined width, 5,604 ft (1,708 meters) and height, 354 feet (108 meters), Victoria Falls is considered the largest waterfall in the world. In April, when the river flow is at its peak, the spray sometimes reaches a height of over 2600 feet (800 meters) and can be seen from 30 miles (50k) away.A trail leads along the Zambezi River showing the main falls and several others such as this one that are part of the complex.Same falls, different view.Peggy absolutely loves falls. Whenever we are near one, we detour from our selected route. She was one one happy camper.Another view from where we were sitting. During rainy season, this view would be wiped out by the spray.And a close up. Can you hear the roar?Walking along the trail, we came on these jewels.The Zambezi River continues to cut a canyon. Eventually, this may be an island. For now, the river flows out, around this promontory, and on.We went on a dinner cruise on the Zambezi River above the falls. Clouds were threatening a beginning to the rainy season. You have already seen crocodiles, hippos, and various birds from this cruise on earlier posts.Peggy and I really liked the contrast created by this dead tree and the greenery behind it.Another view of the trees along the Zambezi.Our evening cruise also brought us a spectacular, ethereal sunset. It was one of many we experienced while we were in Africa. We will be featuring more of them in our final two posts.A view of the hotel we stayed at in Victoria Falls. This is the hotel where I was visited by the mongoose.The trees surrounding the hotel were bursting in color.We traveled with a great group of people on our safari through Botswana and Zambia. These are three of the friends we made along with Peggy’s brother John and his wife Frances joining us for a final photo in our Victoria Falls hotel. On our way to the airport to fly to South Africa, our guide, Samatha, took us to see this huge baobab tree on the outskirts of Victoria Falls. Peggy provides perspective on its size. This tree is estimated to be around 1200 years old. Its circumference is 73 feet and height 78 feet. A tree this size can hold over 120,000 liters of water, over 31,000 gallons.Another large baobab tree stood next to the giant.I took a photo from the base of the tree up. The scarification is likely caused by elephants that love to feed on its bark. That’s it for today. Our next post will feature final scenes from Chobe National Park, Hwange National Park and Lake Kariba.View along the Chobe River in Chobe National Park, Botswana.
Wandering through Time and Place 