Victoria Falls - between Zambia and Zimbabwe

After not being able to include the Victoria Falls in our itinerary in 2019 due to time constraints, they were now at the top of our bucket list. Since 1989 UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Victoria Falls are among the largest and most impressive waterfalls in the world, along with the Niagara Falls and Iguazu Falls. We have to see this!

The best starting point from Botswana is the small town of Kasane, located in the four corners between the border crossings to Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Kasane serves mainly as a stopover for us to visit the Victoria Falls, but it also offers cozy river cruises on the Chobe River, surrounded by hippos and crocodiles. We would have liked to explore Zimbabwe and Zambia afterwards, but this proved to be quite difficult. While in addition to the visa for Zimbabwe, there is a fee of almost $200 for the car at the border crossing, we would not be allowed into Zambia at all, as we lack a specific document that can only be obtained in Namibia. So we have to skip Namibia completely and we also want to avoid the expensive car fee for Zimbabwe. It seems that many travelers here are in the same situation, as most only go for a day trip to the Victoria Falls.

Together with two German girls we met in Nata, we book a tour and embark on the trip together. The tour starts in Kasane at half past seven in the morning. A taxi takes us to the border crossing to Zimbabwe, where we get a day visa and are picked up on the Zimbabwean side by another driver. The road to the town of Victoria Falls leads us through the Zambezi National Park, so we keep our eyes open on the drive to catch a glimpse of lions or elephants. Finally, we reach Victoria Falls, where we are dropped off at the entrance to the waterfalls. From the various view points, we have a direct view of the waterfall front, where incredible amounts of water - up to 10,000 m³ per second! - plunge 107 meters into the so-called Boiling Pot. At the first view point, we all stand with our mouths open, fascinated by the sight. We have probably never seen anything like it before. After the initial awe, we walk along the 1708-meter long front of the waterfalls to the many different viewpoints. The humidity is extremely high, the white spray of the water spreads out hundreds of meters and up to 300 meters high. Good thing we brought our rain jackets! A dripping wet guy passes us: "Ready to get soaked?" While we still arrogantly think that people in Africa are simply not used to rain, we are soon proven wrong. The water doesn't just come from above like heavy rain, but also from all sides, even though we are still a hundred meters away from the viewpoints. We quickly continue walking, but in less than a minute we are completely soaked, the water is in our shoes, and it's not even raining. It becomes clear to us just how extreme these amounts of water are. Once we are wet, nothing else matters and we can calmly enjoy the breathtaking view of the giant Victoria Falls. After that, we have enough time to dry off in the blazing sun while having a coffee at the Lookout Café. From there, we take a zipline through the gorge between Zimbabwe and Zambia, hanging over the Zambezi River. What an experience!