Victoria Falls - Thundering Smoke. See with your own eyes the grandiose Victoria Falls and the amazing Ig Nobel Prize African miracle that is called thundering smoke

“Thundering” “Thundering” is the name of several ships of the Russian navy. The frigate, laid down on August 31, 1762 in Arkhangelsk and assembled by May 31, 1763, had 32 guns. Belonged to the fleet of the White Sea. In 1765 he was relocated to Kronstadt. It was decommissioned in 1778. Sailing

What is a waterfall? When a stream or river overflows over a wall of stone in the form of a cliff or cliff, a waterfall is obtained. Where the wall does not break off vertically, but has a gentle shape, the flowing water is called a cascade. Sometimes in a cascade, water flows down a whole series

Waterfall Waterfall is the name of a place where a river or stream falls from a steep or even sheer ledge. Thresholds are not quite correctly distinguished from V. - a series of successive, but usually insignificant V. heights, which are often instead of one large one. V. author TSB

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

Victoria Falls got its name in honor of the English Queen Victoria. It was discovered in 1855 by the famous Scottish missionary and explorer David Livingston. In the local dialect, the waterfall is called "Mosi-oa-Tunya", which means "Thundering Smoke". So it was called by the people of the Makololo tribe, who came to these places in the 19th century. Neither the Makololo tribe nor Livingston were the discoverers of these places - stone artifacts indicate that the first people appeared here more than 3 million years ago.
Livingston became the first European to see this waterfall on November 16, 1855. In his diary, he wrote: "The places so beautiful must have been watched by angels in flight." The waterfall is surrounded by the world's largest water curtain, which is 1688 m wide and maximum depth- more than 100 m. The rumble of falling water and splashes flying high into the sky speak of the proximity of the waterfall long before you see it with your own eyes. Water breaks off a cliff into a narrow crevice, the width of which is at different times of the year from 60 to 120 m. The waterfall looks most spectacular in April and May, after which the volume of water gradually decreases until December, when it starts to rain again, filling the Zambezi channel.
The lush rainforest along the banks of the river is also included in the national park Mosi-oa-Tunya in Zambia and Victoria Falls and River Park in Zimbabwe. Together, these parks cover an area of ​​56,000 hectares.
The territory of the parks also includes sections of the river with a length of 5 km below and 35 km upstream from the waterfall.
The surrounding rainforest contains a range of endemic plants, most notably ferns, which are extremely rare elsewhere in Zambia and Zimbabwe. Clouds of spray covering the entire area adjacent to the waterfall create high humidity here, which promotes vegetation. Among the trees found here are teak, phytelefas (frosted palm), golden ficus and ebony. Farther from the river and the waterfall, the typical Kalahari forest begins, covering most of the area. About 30 species of large mammals live here, including elephants, monkeys and baboons.
The river is home to crocodiles and hippos, and the coastal forests host over 400 bird species, including the rare Livingston's bright green-breasted turaco, the trumpeter rhinoceros and several species of sunbirds.
During the rainy season, many flowers bloom in the coastal forests, such as red lilies, wild yellow gladiolus, palm blossoms and a variety of local flora.

In terms of geology, Victoria Falls is a very young formation. Scientists believe that about 1 million years ago, the course of the Zambezi River ran along a wide valley along a plateau to the middle threshold of the Zambezi, where today the mouth of the Matetsi River is located. At this point in the earth's crust, the river falls from a height of 250 m down the vertical slope of the exposed rock. The fast current erodes the edge of the waterfall, cutting an ever deeper channel in the basalt plateau.
The basalt was formed by large layers of lava that erupted before the appearance of the Zambezi River. A volcanic eruption occurred here from 100 to 50 million years ago. Lava flows flowed along cracks in the earth's crust, gradually cooling and solidifying. Inside, basalt consists of soft rocks that are easily eroded by water.
By the middle of the Pleistocene period - 35,000 - 40,000 years ago - erosion gradually formed the Batoka Gorge, cutting through it about 90 km from the current waterfall. Gradually falling water eroded the edge of the falls, and the valley began to turn north until it was almost at right angles to the east-west fault lines of the basalt.
Over time, the water carved the faults, turning them into stone walls. The river was squeezed inside narrow faults, the walls of which continued to collapse under the pressure of water. Since the faults run from east to west, the formation of a waterfall is possible only when.

For thousands of years, water continued to erode the stone until a weak point was discovered, at which, under the pressure of water, the stone layers collapsed, and a new fault formed, which became a wall for the water falling down.

The Scot who discovered Victoria Falls for Europeans was a missionary who spent most of his life traveling around Africa. Following from west coast Africa to the east, he reached the Zambezi River at Sesheki in 1851, but saw the waterfall only on November 16, 1855 and wrote in his diary: “... I saw three or five large columns of water vapor rising a hundred or more feet in height ". Livingston was so afraid of exaggerating the size of the falls that he seriously downplayed its true length and height.
Livingston returned to Africa again in 1865, hoping to discover the source of the Nile, after which he disappeared. The New York Herald dispatched journalist and traveler Henry Stanley to search for him, who in 1871 managed to find the Scot.
Shortly thereafter, Livingston again went in search of the sources of the Nile, although he was weakened by malaria. He died in the village of Chitambo, in present-day Zambia, in 1873, never reaching his goal. His remains were taken to England and buried in Westminster Abbey in London.

GUIDE

1. The Victoria Falls Bridge was built in 1905. This 198 m long bridge passes over the river near the waterfall and offers magnificent views. The bridge is open to traffic for trains, cars and pedestrians. The bridge connects Zambia and Zimbabwe.
2. Ledge "Knife Blade" - from here opens best view to the waterfall from the Zambian side. The trail leads down along a spray-shrouded bridge to an island surrounded on all sides by water.
3. "Devil's Threshold", the westernmost point of the falls, where stone erosion is currently ongoing. Nearby is a monument to David Livingston, the first European to see the waterfall.
4. Museum Field, built on the site of archaeological excavations. Some of the objects found during the excavations are exhibited here, including evidence that the first people appeared in these places about 3 million years ago.
5. The trail along the Zambezi River passes through the rainforest, which makes it possible to observe wild animals: baboons, monkeys, crocodiles and elephants - as well as various types of birds and plants.
6. "Boiling Cauldron" - the point at which the streams of river water merge, starting their fall down into the Batoka Gorge.
7. river cruise provides an excellent opportunity to observe the life of wildlife and feel the calm reigning on the river above the waterfall.
8. Crossing "White Water" - this risky journey can only be made accompanied by an experienced guide who knows the river rapids. The Zambezi is one of the ten largest rafting rivers in the world.

Curious facts

■ Surrounded by coastal rainforest, Victoria Falls on the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe is considered one of the most spectacular waterfalls in the world. The Zambezi River, which reaches a width of 2 km in this place, crashes its waters from basalt cliffs, raising a water curtain into the air, which can be seen from a distance of more than 20 km.
■ The waters of the Zambezi River rush off a cliff in a spray cloud that can be seen for miles. During floods, about 500 million liters fall off the cliff every minute. water.
■ "Big Tree" variety of baobab - grows near the place where the discoverers of the falls camped before crossing the river. According to scientists, the age of this tree exceeds 1500 years.

■ The huge amount of spray and water vapor generated when the waters of the Zambezi River fall from the basalt cliffs lead to the formation of small cumulus clouds. Crocodiles sometimes appear from the river above the waterfall, wanting to bask in the sun in coastal mud.
■ More than 400 species of birds live around the waterfall, including weavers that make their amazing nests from grass blades or other plant material. The Victoria Falls Bridge was built in 1905. It connected the copper and coal mines around Nwange with a railway line. With the advent of the railroad, people began to settle where the city of Livingston later arose.

Victoria is 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 fall of water occurs 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 are 2 big islands. They are not flooded even when the river is full. These are Boaruka Island and Livingston Island.

Victoria Falls during the rainy season.

Rainy season on the river Zambezi begins in November and ends in April. The rest of the year is the dry season. The peak of the flood is 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.

The opening of the waterfall

Victoria Falls was discovered by Europeans and got its name from the discoverer.
The first European to see this wonder of nature on the Zambezi was the Scottish explorer David Livingston in 1855, standing on the island, which is now called Livingston's 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 the correct names for the falls.

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 pass over the bridge.

Tourists

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

Devil's Pool

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

Since thanks to the Scottish explorer, doctor and missionary Livingston, the world learned about the waterfall, which he named after his Queen Victoria, guests from different countries have been drawn here. 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, shorebirds, 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 oarsman stood at the back of the dugout and dexterously, in complete silence, steered 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 of water rushed. 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's this? Perhaps there is a large volcanic area in the unexplored part of inner Africa? 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 was 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 the 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 UNESCO list natural objects world heritage humanity. 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.

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 made an impression on us no less than on his discoverer.

From heaven, like one of the angels

A huge, powerful and incredibly beautiful Victoria Falls ... Even the angels of heaven in flight stare at it - so was its 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.

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, this is one of the few places on earth where there are great chances to catch and film such a rare and amazing natural phenomenon like a moonlit 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 - the 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 - dense bushes and groves of mahogany, figs and date palms, walking paths with many viewing platforms from where different viewpoints on 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, on the edges observation platforms branches and thorns are sketched, so it is advisable to choose shoes for excursions with a secure fit and a hard sole. 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 Font 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, 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. it engineering structure part of the ambitious plan of Cecil John Rhodes - a politician, industrialist, financier and just an extraordinary person who constantly walked 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 those 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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worldwide famous waterfall Victoria, which the locals call “Mosi-oa-Tunya” (“thundering smoke”), is one of the most picturesque and enchanting sights on the African continent!

A legendary attraction that attracts tourists from all over the world. Here the mighty Zambezi River falls down, forming a water curtain almost 2 kilometers long. Such a spectacle meets tourists who come here in the spring, when the river is filled with water to the maximum, so that every second 5 million liters of water fall down 100 meters and 30 km from the waterfall you can see clouds of steam rising above the water

Indeed, water spray rising from the waterfall forms a cloud that looks like smoke from afar. The waterfall owes its name to David Livingston, the discoverer and the first white man who saw it in 1885 and decided to name it in honor of the English Queen Victoria. When the local natives escorted him to the waterfall and showed him 546 million liters of water, which every minute crashed into a 100-meter abyss, David Livingston was so shocked by what he saw that he immediately dubbed it the name of the queen

At the waterfall, the width of the Zambezi River reaches 1.6 km. Water falls with a roar into a 106-meter opening formed in its path

In 1857, David Livingstone wrote that in England no one can even imagine the beauty of this spectacle: “No one can imagine the beauty of the spectacle in comparison with anything seen in England. The eyes of a European had never seen such a thing before, but the angels in their flight must have admired such a beautiful sight!

Professor Livingston described the falls as the most beautiful sight he had seen in Africa: “Crawling with fear to the cliff, I looked down into a huge crack that stretched from coast to coast of the wide Zambezi, and saw how a stream thousands of yards wide rushed down to a hundred feet and then suddenly shrinking in a space of fifteen to twenty yards... I witnessed the most wonderful sight in Africa!”

The waterfall, in some respects, is largest waterfall in the world, and is also one of the most unusual in form (the waterfall is an extraordinary sight - a narrow abyss into which water falls), and having perhaps the most diverse and easily observed wildlife any section of the waterfall

Although Victoria Falls is neither the tallest nor the widest waterfall in the world, its status as the largest is based on a width of 1708 and a height of 108 meters, forming the largest sheet of falling water in the world. Numerous islands on the crest of the waterfall divide the water current into several branches. The dense fog and thunderous roar produced by the waterfall can be perceived from a distance of approximately 40 km.

A boiling cauldron at the beginning of a winding gorge 80 km long, through which streams rush from the waterfall, is crossed by a bridge 198 meters long and 94 meters high

At the top of the 120-meter Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe, there is a natural mountain reservoir, called the Devil's Pond, where the water is relatively calm. From September to December, when the water level is low, Devil's Pond turns into one of the world's largest swimming pools. The surrounding view will certainly make you a little nervous.

Or get really nervous

Victoria Falls is often compared to the Argentine-Brazilian Iguazu Falls, because if you do not take into account the discontinuity of the Iguazu water wall, it would be the widest waterfall in the world!

There are hardly any metaphors that have not yet been applied to this magnificent natural wonder of the world; it's just hard to describe in words. The waterfall and its immediate surroundings are so vast that it is difficult to capture their true splendor with the eye, and for this reason they are perhaps best seen from the air.

A few more photos Victoria Falls bird's-eye