In 1855, Dr. David Livingston, physician, African missionary and explorer, travelled down the Zambezi River to see for himself an area that the natives described as “the smoke that thunders.” In doing so, he became probably the first European to view the falls, which he claimed for England and named for the reigning monarch, Queen Victoria. Livingstone described the falls as a scene “gazed upon by angles in their flight.”
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| Statue of Dr. David Livingstone near the falls. The photo looks blurry, but the constant spray from the falls always makes it appear that it is raining on the statue. |
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| The sun on the mist creates multiple rainbows |
Today Victoria Falls is listed as an UNESCO World Heritage Site. The town of Victoria Falls has a population of 33,748 (2012 census) and an economy that is essentially based on tourism.
While we were there we stayed at the Sprayview Hotel, a perfectly fine modern establishment. However, if one wishes to step back into the romance of a by-gone era, a visit to the lovely Victoria Falls Hotel is in order. Built in 1904, it still exudes the original Edwardian charm. One is transported back into a time of luxury and privilege. Even today it maintains its place among the grand hotels of the world. Its restaurant, The Livingston Room, is ranked as one of the top seven restaurants in the world. Dining al fresco on the broad veranda, one gets a sweeping view over the perfectly-manicured lawn. The 1905 railroad bridge over the Zambezi River gorge and the spray from the falls creating rainbows as the sun glistens off the water provide a spectacular view.
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| Lounge and entrance to The Railway Bar at the Sprayview Hotel |
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| Rainforest bar in the Sprayview Hotel |
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| The veranda and outdoor dining at Victoria Falls Hotel |
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| View from the veranda. The bridge, built in 1905, crosses the Zambezi River. On the left end (as you see it here) is Zimbabwe. On the right end is Zambia. The bridge was originally built as a railroad bridge, a link in the Cape Town-to-Cairo railway. |
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| Though you can't see the falls themselves from the veranda, you can see the spray rising up several hundred feet in the air. |
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| Women's restroom off the hotel parlor. Marble and chintz...the décor harkens back to the grandeur of the Edwardian period |
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| Portrait of His Royal Highness, Edward VII, the King of England at the time, the hotel was built. The King visited the hotel shortly after it opened. |
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| Lounge at Victoria Falls Hotel. The veranda is to the right, where the sun is shining through the windows |
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| Door leading out of the other side of the lounge, opposite the veranda, toward reception |
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| Trophies adorn the walls of the hotel. |
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| This man was patrolling the hotel grounds. I asked him what his job was. His answer? He was keeping the baboons off the lawn and away from the guests. |
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| Baboons were everywhere around the hotel grounds |
While
the opportunities to shop had been somewhat limited while we were on safari,
the town of Victoria Falls offered several chances to part with our
currency. Most of our entourage visited
the “tourist market”, more properly named the Elephant's Walk shops. Several of us, slightly more adventurous,
also visited the “local” market, a combination dry goods / flea market /
vegetable market / “everything under the sun” market several blocks off of the
main tourist area.
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| Elephant's Walk Shopping Village...the "tourist" shopping area |
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| This craftsman in Elephant's Walk designs and creates sculptures from wire. Everything from small pieces.... |
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| ...to this nearly life-sized sculpture of a man reading his newspaper. |
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| The tourist areas of Victoria Falls include many restaurants and bars.
We thought this sign was especially colorful and interesting.
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There
was some pressure in the “tourist market” from vendors wanting to show you
their wares (but, thankfully, none of the pulling or grabbing that can be found
in markets in other places in the world) and haggling was generally
expected. We had more fun in the local
market. Prices were set but were
substantially lower than in the tourist market.
Obviously, there was not the same prevalence of “souvenir” items, but if
you wanted something that the local people actually bought and used for
themselves – such as brightly-colored fabric – this was the place to shop. People that we encountered in the market were
friendly and helpful and would take you to a specific vendor instead of just
giving directions. One woman, when we
explained what we were looking for, took the time to lead us nearly two blocks
to a vendor with precisely the right items that we were seeking, and later
returned to make sure that her friend had treated us well, and that our
purchase had gone smoothly.
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| This woman had a shop that sold brightly-colored material called "chitengas" that serve many purposes, from apron to skirt to a wrap for holding your baby on your back. Yvonne bought several. The man, whose name is Mehiuli, initially tried to sell us a melon but then tagged along with us and just wanted to talk--and to be in this picture. Peeking around Yvonne is Hilary, one of our tour group. |
Due to hyper-inflation (at one point, the country had to increase the salary of soldiers by 300%, which still didn't keep up with inflation) "re-denomination" - simply printing notes in larger denominations - of the Zimbabwean currency took place in 2006 and again in 2008. By July of 2008, the cost of one egg was $1 billion Zimbabwe dollars. Banks limited withdrawals to $100 billion dollars per day, which would not even buy a loaf of bread. On April 12, 2009, without warning, the use of Zimbabwean currency was suddenly abandoned and foreign currency came into use throughout the country. Cash that people held in banks, pensions, and trust funds became worthless. Today the U.S. dollar is the “official” currency of Zimbabwe, but at the present time, there are eight currencies (none of which are Zimbabwean) that the banks are accepting which makes commerce difficult for local enterprises and individuals.
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| Top bill: $500,000 (Five Hundred Thousand) Zimbabwe dollars, issued July 2007 Bottom bill: $10,000,000,000 (Ten Billion) Zimbabwe dollars, issued 2008 |
The major feature of this stop was, of course, the falls themselves. Victoria Falls was called Mosi-oa Tunya in the local Kololo language meaning “the smoke that thunders”. A truly accurate description, for one can see the mist of the falls some fifty miles away; the mist also creates a rainforest ecosystem in the immediate area. Astounding statistics give mathematical credence to the grandeur of Victoria Falls:
* largest curtain of water in the world
* 5,604 feet wide
* plunges from a height of 355 feet
* at peak flood times 1.4 billion gallons of water per minute pass over its edge
But mere statistics can’t capture how one is
engulfed in the total sensory experience.
The olfactory senses hone in on the scent of mosses, ferns and damp foliage
blended with the sweet fragrance of blooming fig trees and tropical flowers. The spray, as it rises 200 or 300 feet in the
air, condenses and falls as rain, permeating clothing and making hair tendrils
cling limply around your face as you gaze in awe. The thrashing waters cascade over the basalt plateau
as one – no, two – no, three rainbows appear, arching over the falls. The air is filled with sound because the
falls do, indeed, thunder, yet there is a stillness, almost a reverence, evoked
by the magnificence of the experience.
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| The thunder of the falls.... |
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| ...and the stillness of a rainbow in the mist. |
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| There are just some moments and some places you will remember forever. Victoria Falls is certainly one of them. |
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