Twelve Fascinating Facts You Didn’t Know About Victoria Falls

My Zimbabwe adventure included a morning hike in the Victoria Falls Rainforest and an afternoon helicopter ride over the falls. Both were incredible!

It is the largest waterfall in the world. Not the widest or the highest but the world’s largest sheet of falling water. Twice the height of Niagara and only rivalled by Iguazu Falls in South America.

The Zambezi River is the fourth-largest in the African continent and crosses six different nations – its amazing journey spans close to 1700 miles. Victoria Falls is the boundary dividing the upper and middle parts of the Zambezi.

Mosi-Oa-Tunya National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is home to part of Victoria Falls. “Mosi-Oa-Tunya” means “the smoke that thunders”.

Perfect.

When the light of a full moon hits the mist from the falls it creates a moonbow, or a lunar rainbow! This only occurs in two places around the world, Victoria Falls is one.

In 1855, British explorer and missionary David Livingstone was the first European to discover the Falls. He named it for the British monarch at the time, Queen Victoria.

Every minute more than 130 million gallons of water cascade over the falls. The numbers almost seem too impossible to imagine! That’s the equivalent of 200 Olympic-sized swimming pools!

If you watch this next video to the end, you’ll see bathers in a pool high atop the falls…I can only assume they were tethered! I took this video from one of the Rainforest overlooks of the Falls…

You can see the Falls from two countries: 75% from the Zimbabwean side, while the remaining 25% is visible from the Zambian side. 

And all of it from a helicopter!

One of the Seven Wonders of the world. The others are the Aurora Borealis, the Harbour of Rio de Janeiro, the Grand Canyon, the Great Barrier Reef, Mount Everest, and Parícutin, a cinder cone volcano in Mexico.

It rains at Victoria Falls every day. On the Zimbabwe side of the Falls you will find the Victoria Falls Rainforest.

Many wild animals, including the Big Five, call “Vic Falls” home. Especially crocodiles.

It’s worth taking the hike through the Rainforest, visiting each of the fifteen different point around the Falls then taking the helicopter ride for a more expansive view. I slogged around the two mile trek in the poncho provided and was astonished by the powerful mist that constantly rises and falls from every viewing point.

Truly one of the Seven Wonders!