Recently there has been a flood of attempts to classify other natural and man-made phenomena, such as the Seven Wonders of the Modern World and even the Seven Wonders of Canada. In 1997 CNN published an arbitrary list of the Seven Wonders of the Natural World. Not surprisingly, since our planet is rich in splendor, this list has been much debated; however, some of the selections seem to be beyond dispute. One of these is Victoria Falls. Nearly 1700 metres wide and approximately twice as high as Niagara Falls, these are the largest and most unique waterfalls in the world. The lush vegetation also provides refuge for more wildlife than any other waterfalls in the world.
The Zambezi River (which flows over the falls) serves as a natural barrier between Zambia and Zimbabwe. The 2,574 km long river has its source in Zambia, flows through Angola, and along the borders of Namibia and Botswana as well as Zambia and Zimbabwe. The Zambezi ends in Mozambique, where it empties into the Indian Ocean. During high season a massive amount of water (700 00 00 cubic litres) flows over the falls per minute. Our guide, Fisher, used to conduct canoe trips along this famous water system and told us a few stories of near-death experiences. The Zambezi is famous for its population of crocodiles and hippopotamuses.
A bridge provides passage from the outskirts of Livingstone, Zambia to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. This enables the public to view the falls from two different countries. The view of the Batoka Gorge (below the bridge) is breathtaking. Past this point, the Zambezi River continues to twist and wind its way through a long stretch of steep cliffs. As a result, Victoria Falls is known as the adrenaline capital of southern Africa. River rafting the most challenging rapids in the world (level 5) and bungee jumping, are two of the most popular activities.
Victoria Falls is unlike most falls where there is simply a dip in elevation and the water continues on its way. Here, the water flows into a deep chasm in the landscape, rebounding off of the opposing rock face and generating an enormous amount of spray. On a clear day this veil of mist can be seen as far as thirty kilometres away. This is why the local name for Victoria Falls is Mosi-Oa-Tunya, "The Smoke That Thunders". Unfortunately, this also means that the full length of the falls is impossible to observe during much of the year. Near to the falls, the mist quickly falls back to the ground like rain. There are few spots that are not constantly pounded by what seems like a torrential rainfall.
From a tourist's perspective, the solution to this problem is to hire a helicopter or micro-lite airplane. The thought of riding in what amounts to little more than a glorified lawnmower with wings made me nervous in the beginning, but once airborne it was pure fun and entertainment!
David Livingstone, who is believed to be the first white explorer to the area, named Victoria Falls after Queen Victoria. This was unusual since he normally insisted on maintaining local place names. He famously described the falls as "a scene so lovely that they must have been gazed upon by angels in flight". I don't know a lot about angels but I can say that the succession of rainbows that appear from various angles above the falls is really something special. The flight also provides a good opportunity to observe the wildlife below. My German pilot and I saw elephants, hippos and an enormous stork's nest that encompassed the entire crown of a large tree!
There's a statue of David Livingstone on the Zambian side of the falls. In the Livingstone Museum, there is an entire room devoted to his exploits. The locals revered Livingstone not because he figured he beat all of the other Europeans to the falls but due to his ongoing efforts to publicize and help eradicate the slave trade in central Africa. Although he grew up impoverished in his native Scotland, Livingstone's character and ability were recognized early on. He went on to become a doctor as well as a missionary. He was consumed until his death with a desire to find the source of the Nile River.
On one of his journeys Livingstone ran into trouble when a porter accidentally broke his navigational equipment and his medicines ran out. Suffering from malaria and dysentery, the man was given up for dead until the American journalist Henry Morton Stanley successfully located him, uttering the famous quip, "Dr. Livingstone, I presume". Livingstone eventually died in the jungle. His body was identified by the broken bones in his forearm that were once crushed in a lion attack and known to have never healed properly.
Our stay in Livingstone marked the end of my time with Kiboko Tours as most of the group carried on to Chobe National Park in Botswana. I was very pleased with the experience and hope to be able to do another safari one day. The group included two young French doctors (Bruno and Carolyn) , a French portrait photographer (Rudi) and his wife, Emmanuelle, who worked with computer information systems. Paulo (a physiotherapist) and Elisa (a computer technician) from a village in northern Italy were on their honeymoon! Julie was a retired American Airlines flight attendant and Robyn was employed an office worker in Brisbane, Australia. Our group got along well.
The rest of my time in Zambia was spent staying at the Jolly Boys Backpackers in Livingstone. It was a very comfortable and spotlessly clean hostel...one of the best I've seen anywhere in the world. The pool area was amazing and the sunken lounge a wonderful place to spend the day or evening meeting people. Livingstone proved to be a crossroads for an interesting mix of gentle souls from all over southern and eastern Africa: Christian missionaries, overland travellers, foreign aid workers, medical students on overseas placements and a variety of volunteers in social and environmental projects. The desk employee was a girl from Courtney, B.C. that has been living in Zambia for eight years and doesn't want to leave! A German version of Forest Gump (a man who had been cycling around the world for nine years) had lots of stories to tell.
As well as visiting the museum I managed to fit in a few excursions into the town and a little bit of the surrounding countryside. There was an interesting market and other small businesses catering to tourists and the local population alike. I was very impressed with the friendliness of the people and how well many of them spoke English.
During my four days in Livingstone there were a number of peaceful and enthusiastic rallies, parades, and street demonstrations. Zambia has become one of the more stable countries in Africa and the population is evidently proud to be able to exercise its rights and freedoms.
Democracy and free enterprise seem to provide hope and inspiration the world over. The good life as we know it North America may be but a dream to these struggling people but the first step in achieving a goal is believing that it is possible. That's my two cents worth of insight into Zambia. Signing off from sub-tropical Africa, Rick
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