8 Awesome Facts About Victoria Falls

Think you know everything about Africa’s greatest waterfall? Read on to discover 10 things that you may or may not know about the monstrous cascade on the Zambezi River between Zambia and Zimbabwe.

1. Vic Falls is ranks as the world’s largest curtain waterfall — a cascade whose height is significantly smaller than its summit width. In this case, more than 5,600 feet wide versus 355 feet high.
2. People have lived around the falls since the Early Stone Age, around two million years ago.
3. The falls is considered one of the World’s Seven Wonders of Natural as well as Africa’s No. 1 Wonder of Nature and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
4. Explorer David Livingstone named the falls for Queen Victoria when he came across them the first time in 1855. But locals still know the falls by their incredibly descriptive African name: Mosi-o-Tunya (“The Smoke That Thunders”).
5. Opened in 1905 as part of the British Empire’s plan for a Cape-to-Cairo railroad across Africa, Victoria Falls Bridge is now renowned for bungee jumping.
6. The mean annual flow of 38,430 cubic feet per second translates into the water from 12,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools tumbling over the falls every minute.
7. After plunging down the escarpment, the Zambezi River snakes its way through six gorges on a zigzag path to Lake Kariba that churns up some of the world’s best whitewater rafting.
8. Anantara’s luxurious Royal Livingstone hotel and spa overlooks the Zambezi River just upstream from Victoria Falls. From the hotel lobby it’s just a 15-minute walk to viewpoints overlooking the cascade’s eastern edge.