See with your own eyes the grandiose Victoria Falls and the amazing Ig Nobel Prize. Victoria Falls. Thundering Smoke of Africa

Victoria is in South Africa on the Zambezi River. Its width is 1708 meters and its height is 108 meters. It is 2 times higher than Niagara Falls. His rivals are only Angel da Iguazu from South America.
The fall of water occurs across the entire width of the river into the abyss formed in the plateau.


The width of this particular abyss is 1708 meters. But its depth varies from 80 meters to 108 meters. On the crest of falling water are 2 big islands. They are not flooded even when the river is full. These are Boaruka Island and Livingston Island.

Victoria Falls during the rainy season.

Rainy season on the river Zambezi begins in November and ends in April. The rest of the year is the dry season. The peak of the flood is in April. At this time, the spray from the waterfall rises to a height of 400 meters and is visible for almost 50 km.

During the dry season, the islands become numerous. And from September to January, a dry bottom is generally visible.

The opening of the waterfall

Victoria Falls was discovered by Europeans and got its name from the discoverer.
The first European to see this wonder of nature on the Zambezi was the Scottish explorer David Livingston in 1855, standing on the island, which is now called Livingston's Island. He named the waterfall in honor of the English Queen - Victoria.


In the language of local tribes, the name of the waterfall sounds like Mosi-oa-Tunia, which translates as “Thundering Smoke”. In 2013, UNESCO recognized both names as official. Therefore, both "Victoria Falls" and "Thundering Smoke" - correct names waterfall.

Bridge next to the waterfall

A bridge was built next to the waterfall. It is turned to the water at an angle of 45 degrees. The length of the bridge is 250 meters. The bridge is located at an altitude of 125 meters above the river. Vehicles can pass over the bridge.

Tourists

Since the late 90s of the last century, 300 thousand tourists visit Victoria every year. And the growth in the number of people wishing to see falling water on the Zambezi continues.

Devil's Pool

by the most interesting place is the Devil's Pool. It is located on Livingston Island. The flow of water in this place is at the same level from September to December. This allows desperate daredevils to swim next to the abyss.

Since thanks to the Scottish explorer, doctor and missionary Livingston, the world learned about the waterfall, which he named after his Queen Victoria, guests from different countries have been drawn here. Agree, it would be strange to be near the Thundering Smoke and refrain from visiting such a bright landmark of Africa? And we went there. I was driving and imagining how the Discovery was made… After a long drought, the river was low. But during the night, nature recovered a little from the heat, and warm pure water smelled fresh...

The first European on the Zambezi River at the waterfall

So it was. The water level dropped sharply due to drought, but it is not for nothing that the name Zambezi in the local dialect means " great river". Tropical dragonflies swooped over the countless green islands that divided its vast expanse. Innumerable legions of water birds - gulls, waders, cormorants - fed on the rocky shallows, African skimmers silently maneuvered over the very surface, fishing eagles scanned the depths in search of fish.

The hippos were basking serenely in the sun, when a narrow, fidgeting mokoro swam right next to two dark heads. The rower stood on back side dugout boat and deftly, in complete silence, controlled it with a long pole. The punt tacked in the middle of the river between slippery and jagged black rocks, overcame the furious streams surrounding them, glided over rare patches of relatively calm water.

She was heading towards the roaring abyss, where the whole mass of water rushed. A white cloud of mist hung over the cliff, which continuously fluctuated, then descending, then rising again. A few more heads of hippos surfaced, which, as if seeing off, turned their small round ears after the boat ...

Mysterious Natural Phenomenon - Thundering Smoke

In the middle of the 19th century, many believed that the center of the continent was desert. And he, now for many months, listened to reverent talk about "Mosi oa Tunya." Thundering Smoke… And I thought about this phenomenon. What is this? Perhaps in the unexplored part of inner Africa there is a large volcanic area? And he went to find this volcano and put it on the map.

But I found something much more wonderful. On one of the days of the trip, suddenly, under a cloudless sky, a rainbow appeared on the horizon. Then distant thunder was heard in the hot midday atmosphere, and five columns of smoke were visible above the treetops, as if large patches of grass were burning in the savannah.

All this was incredibly strange, he had to face such phenomena for the first time in his life. It is noteworthy that in a district of sixty miles there was not a single local settlement, and this is not surprising: after all, people were convinced that Thundering Smoke was the domain of an evil and cruel Great Spirit.

The black faces of his native companions turned gray at the mere thought of approaching his abode. But he was not in the least superstitious or timid and considered it his duty to study this part of the continent before - after all, he was a missionary! - bring here the light of Christianity.

Day after day, he went over in his mind the possible causes of these incomprehensible natural phenomena, until he found himself on the threshold of the greatest waterfall in the world. One of the five great rivers of Africa, the Zambezi, flowing through a spacious valley a good mile wide, interrupted its smooth flow here. Across the channel was a giant crack in the earth's crust. The water made its way to it through the fringe of small islands and with desperate madness rushed into the abyss.

In the footsteps of the great traveler

And on November 16, 1855, having a pencil and a notebook in his pocket, greatest explorer in history - David Livingston swims to one of these patches of land. The islet borders on one of its edges with a waterfall. What a restless European will see, sprawled on his stomach and tremblingly looking into the foamy abyss behind the sheer and inky-smooth ledge, from which a thick curtain of water fell, will amaze him for life ...

But these two old pictures of Victoria Falls, placed in the article, were not made by the hand of a great traveler, but by a completely different European - Thomas Baines, who reached Thundering Smoke on the Zambezi River a few years later than Livingston.

Pay attention to the lower right corner of the photo with the monument, the same mokoro boats are included in the composition.

Victoria Falls is included in the list of natural sites of the World Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO. From national park Chobe, where we were, is not far from this wonder of the world. But the whole difficulty was that, under the terms of renting our car, we could only drive around Namibia and Botswana.

I had to arrange at the hotel so that they would take us to the Rainbow Hotel in their own transport. Victoria Falls Zimbabwe, and a day later they took it back.

How to convey the greatness of the waterfall? What kind of art is this for? For more than a hundred years, poets, writers and artists have tried to pay tribute to the outstanding sights of the black continent and, to the best of their talents, immortalize it in their creations. But the time has come and digital cameras have appeared that can capture the greatness and beauty of water flying down to the drop.

Now Victoria Falls is captured in millions of photos. We intend to add our contribution to them by filming sunset and dawn, and to make these shots with all our skill - after all, he impressed us no less than his discoverer.

From heaven, like one of the angels

Huge, powerful and indescribably beautiful Victoria Falls ... Even the angels of heaven in flight stare at it - so its discoverer Livingston was convinced! Indeed, in order to appreciate its scale and understand how it works, you need to look at the thundering smoke of Mosi-oa-Tunya from above. Well, takeoff team?

Victoria Falls is located approximately halfway between the source of the Zambezi and its mouth.

To this special section of its channel, the river approaches wide and calm. It slowly flows over flat terrain, forming wide floodplains. Sheer idyll: legged herons catch pop-eyed frogs aground, elephants eat purple hyacinths knee-deep in water and splash water on each other, eland antelopes graze on the shore ...

And suddenly, absolutely unexpectedly, the riverbed is cut by a narrow crack. As if on the living body of the Earth, someone had just slashed with a sharp knife and the edges of the cut had not yet parted. And a powerful water avalanche poured into the gaping wound from the entire width of the river.

In a cloud of spray, with a deafening noise and accompanied by a slight shudder of the earth's interior, it falls into a deep abyss and seems to go into unknown depths. And this phenomenon of the sudden disappearance of a wide river is amazing.

Below the waterfall, there is again an almost flat area, which is cut in sharp zigzags by several almost bottomless gorges, along which, raging, the Zambezi River runs further. But more on that later.

Interesting facts: the height of the Victoria Falls and more

So, a powerful water avalanche falls into a narrow abyss with steep walls, located at a right angle to the upper channel. Let's hover for a minute right above the waterfall, but first a few numbers. Because statistics knows everything:

• The length of the Victoria Falls (coinciding with the width of the Zambezi River in this place) is 1708 meters.
• The width of the gorge is from one side to the opposite from 50 to 120 meters.
• The depth of the earth fault at its western end is 80, in the middle - 108 meters. For clarity, the bell tower of my beloved would be hidden there along with the ball and cross crowning it.
• Just imagine: every minute 500 million liters of water slips over the edge into the abyss during the rainy season. In dry - much less, only 10 million liters. Compare - our standard bath holds about 200 liters of water.
• The creations of the Victoria Falls are clouds of fog saturated with moisture. They envelop the seething gorge and reach for the sky, you can notice them even from a distance of 50 km.

More about Victoria Falls

And how does he look against the background of his brothers? Strikingly and unexpectedly, it is not the highest, and not the widest, and not even the most full-flowing.

And the peculiarity of this grandiose miracle of African nature is that, firstly, this waterfall is located not in the mountains, but in the middle of the flat terrain. Secondly, none of them has such a wide curtain of falling water. A mountain of diamonds is pouring down ... It creates favorable conditions for numerous magnificent rainbows that connect the opposite edges of the gorge.

By the way, do you know, friends, that a rainbow is not an arc at all, but a circle?

What is a rainbow

It has been known since school that a rainbow is a special optical phenomenon that occurs when the rays of the sun are refracted in tiny drops of water. “The stream is swift and bright, It rushes down in an alluring dance, Dozens of colorful rainbows lit up colorfully under the sun ...” The beautiful sight of a double rainbow is not such a rare occurrence. It was seen by many after heavy rain, when the air is oversaturated with water drops, the sunlight is refracted again.

We are all used to thinking that the rainbow has the shape of an arc, because that is how people see it, standing on the surface of the earth. But if you observe this phenomenon from a height, for example, from an airplane, then the viewer will see a full circle of a series of colors - red on the outside, orange and so on, ending with purple on the inside.

It is rare to see this, and it is even rarer to photograph it. On the AirPano website, Russian photographers proudly present a photo of a round rainbow at Victoria Falls, taken while shooting panoramas for the project.

Victoria Falls is famous not only for its bright and juicy double, triple daytime rainbows, it is one of the few places on earth where there are great chances to catch and film such a rare and amazing natural phenomenon as a moon rainbow.

Are you surprised? How can you see a rainbow at night, because it is the result of the refraction of sunlight? Friends, the correction is not the sun, but the light rays! This effect is possible when the full moon provides enough light and the sky is dark and clear. The lunar rainbow is perceived by the human eye as pale and white, although in fact it is the same multi-colored.

There are even misty rainbows here. They are very weakly colored and appear on the columns of water suspension.

In the First Gorge along the crest of the waterfall

Follow me, reader! Look: the river bed breaks in such a way that the front of the waterfall looks like an almost straight wall. During low water, only separate streams fall along the rocky surface of the wall. Exposed areas of basalt, drying up, stretch almost to the very bottom of the gorge. At this time it becomes possible (although not entirely safe) to walk along the crest of the waterfall, crossing the exposed shallows, treacherous stones and sections of the river, so deceptively calm before a sharp fall.

The structure of the Victoria Falls from west to east looks like this:

• The first stream - 35 meters wide and 61 meters high - is called the waterfall (or cataract) of the Devil.
• It is followed by the island of Boaruka (Cataract), three hundred meters wide, on which the natives worshiped the evil deity of the waterfall and brought him gifts.
• Behind the island begins the main cascade of the waterfall, called Main Falls. Its width is 460 and its height is 83 meters.
• This is followed by the island of Livingston, overgrown with trees and bushes. It was here that the mokoro of an outstanding African explorer moored.
• The third, disappearing in the dry season, horseshoe-shaped stream is Horseshu.
• Next comes the place of the most beautiful rainbows - the 99-meter Rainbow Falls.
• The last one is the Eastern Cataract - the eastern waterfall, 98m high.

Zimbabwe or Zambia?

Oh, how we wanted to see an amazing natural phenomenon from above! But the helicopter flight cost so much that, tormented by this amount, we overcame our passionate desire. Legs, legs - closer to nature, we decided. And, having caught a taxi, we went from the hotel to watch the waterfall from our Zimbabwean side, because there was still time before sunset.

Victoria Falls is divided between the two countries of Zambia and Zimbabwe, therefore it is part of two national parks- "Mosi-oa-Tunya" and "Victoria Falls" with an area of ​​66 sq. km and 23 sq. km, respectively. You can cross the bridge to the Zambian side, but we were afraid that without a yellow fever vaccination they would not let us in, so our dreams did not extend to the Zambian side.

However, looking ahead, I will say that we were wrong and this time we managed to visit Zambia without much difficulty and with little financial loss. But the rules for obtaining a visa, unfortunately, often change and the next year we did not cross the Zambian border: we canceled one-day visas, and it would be stupid to buy a monthly visa, which costs $ 50 per person for a couple of hours in the country.

Watch Victoria Falls

We walked in the little Victoria Falls park for almost four hours, until dusk. Of course, we took a photo for memory at the bronze figure of Livingston, who does not take his eyes off his discovery. We were in Victoria Falls in early May, when the power of the waterfall was just beginning to decline, and it was incomparable!

On the shore opposite the water curtain, there is a tropical rainforest - dense bushes and groves of mahogany, figs and date palms, walking paths with many viewing platforms from where different viewpoints on the waterfall. The waters of the Zambezi River rumbled, we did not take our eyes off the huge rushing streams. Clouds of water dust, then completely covered the waterfall, then, like clouds, spread to the sides. Hundreds of little sparks danced around and the brightest rainbows I had ever seen played.

Friends, remember: the stones on the cliffs are wet, which means they are slippery, on the edges observation platforms branches and thorns are sketched, so it is advisable to choose shoes for excursions with a secure fit and a hard sole. Ankle-fastening hiking sandals are great, they will be quite comfortable in them.

Clothing here should be worn such that it is not a pity to get wet, even better if it dries quickly. My version with denim breeches was far from the best. But I want to note that a raincoat with a hood, usually recommended for tourists for such a walk, is completely meaningless. Yes, it will protect you from splashes. But, since it is forty degrees outside, under it you will sweat as if you were just wet. From my point of view, honestly getting wet is preferable.

A major dry season bonus: at this time, another rare opportunity is available on the Zimbabwean side - the view of the Victoria Falls from the bottom of the gorge, from where the water usually boils.

Where are we to sail?

A huge mass of water compressed in a narrow space is looking for a way out and finds it in one single narrow and short gap leading to the second gorge. Entering it, a powerful stream turns sharply, forming a so-called boiling cauldron with whirlpools.

From here begins a zigzag cascade of narrow gorges with steep, 120–240 meter walls. Together with the Victoria Falls themselves, there are now eight of them. Did you notice the word "now"?

Different secrets of the Mosi-oa-Tunya waterfall

It's all about secrets - it all starts with them. For me, my acquaintance with Victoria Falls began at school age with an exciting search for treasures that were safely hidden by Kaffir kings in a hiding place behind falling streams. How many unforgettable adventures I had to go through with the heroes of Boussenard...

For many adults, Thundering Smoke beckons with a veil of mystery that is hidden in ancient legends about a giant black snake with a gray-blue head. Chipik, a dangerous and fat monster lives in Mosi-oa-Tunya and pulls people into the depths with the help of an unknown force. Well, yes, of course, they saw him.

No, it was not only Africans with a fervent imagination who saw it. Here, for example, is a testimony from 1925 of a certain Mr. V.Pare, who, in shallow water, descended along the rocks into the canyon. Suddenly, in front of him, a snake-like monster shot up from the water, standing literally on its tail. Several long seconds passed before the terrible creature disappeared into the depths of the cave at the foot of the Devil's cataract...

God knows who this man was and why no one allows himself to doubt the veracity of his story, but there were too many cases of this kind to simply give up on them. There is definitely something going on here.

But the true secret of Mosi oa Tunya is connected with the origin of this geological formation, consisting of a waterfall and seven steep gorges adjacent to it.

How did the Victoria Falls come about?

Now geologists adhere to such a theory. In the Jurassic period, a huge stream of fiery lava splashed out through cracks in the earth's crust. He created that basalt plateau, on which the Zambezi River now flows. But before that, many millions of years still had to pass. Cooling down, the basalt burst, the cracks were slowly filled with sandstone - a much less durable material than basalt.

And when the powerful stream of the Zambezi flowed over the fractures filled with sandstone, the river began its endless work of washing out the rocks, gradually, over thousands of years, forming deep gorge with a wide waterfall falling into it. The earliest version of Victoria Falls formed about 5 million years ago and was much further downstream than the modern one. Then the water fell from a cliff 140 m high, and its length was 3.3 km - a much larger formation.

The work of the water continued - it eroded the sandstone in the next crack upstream, and the waterfall zigzag moved. This is the eighth waterfall in the last 100,000 years. And not the last. The Devil's cataract is the starting point for the formation of his next position. The satellite image shows two existing, not yet eroded, but very suitable cracks in the basalt.

Devil's Font and other entertainment

As soon as we settled into the hotel, we went to see what they breathe in the town. What I saw made me think. It turned out that after economic crisis in Zimbabwe they live quietly without a national currency. For a hang glider, a helicopter, a bungee, a visit to a park with a waterfall - all prices are not only in dollars, but they also really bite.

Zimbabweans are resourceful. To empty the pockets of tourists at Victoria Falls, they offer a lot of exciting opportunities - canoeing and watching the sunset in a canoe, fishing on the Zambezi, rafting on the white water of the Zambezi River ... But many of the proposals are quite dangerous.

For example, swimming in a small pool at the very edge of the waterfall near Livingston Island. It is not known when and who first discovered this oddity in the riverbed, but it attracts tourists with hypnotic power. The Devil's Font is a three-meter hole with water, a natural stone barrier separates it from the roaring abyss. The area of ​​the devil's pool is not fenced off in any way from the fast and furious currents surrounding it, and, of course, tragic cases happen here!

On a bridge full of adrenaline

Through the Second Gorge, obliquely to the waterfall, thrown arch bridge, its length is 198 meters and its height is 128 meters above the Zambezi level. This engineering structure is part of the ambitious plan of Cecil John Rhodes - a politician, industrialist, financier and just an extraordinary person who constantly walked around in an old shirt and trousers, although he was the diamond king and founder of the De Beers corporation.

The bridge was built as an element of a strategically important railway, which began in Cape Town, went across the Zambezi River and, according to plans, was supposed to end in Cairo. Fortune turned its back on Rhodes, the grandiose plan did not materialize, but the railway bridge that was built is still functioning perfectly.

Additionally, it is used for pedestrian and vehicular traffic. We stopped to take a few photos as heavy trucks transited the bridge purring as they passed the breathtaking vistas of the Victoria Falls.

So, not only can you cross the bridge to the other side, it offers a cool opportunity to jump head down on a rope. Interesting, but why are most bungee jumpers made up of women?

Once 22-year-old Australian Erin Langworthy succumbed to the temptation to swing on such a giant swing, but it didn’t work out. While bungee jumping off a bridge, the rubber rope holding her snapped. Free fall began at a height of 110 meters. Poor Erin - head down and with her feet tied - flew straight into the river, infested with crocodiles. The reptiles, which were obviously bored before, immediately became interested ...

Fortunately, they managed to save the girl, she escaped with only a fright, a broken collarbone, severe bruises and numerous bruises. But… is it worth the risk? Here is the video of the incident:

We did not take risks, but just stood this bridge for a while. Livingston dedicated his remarkable discovery to Queen Victoria, but she, although she lived a long century, never saw this spectacular waterfall. But in April 1947, her great-grandson George VI came here with his wife and two daughters.

One of the princesses - then still very young Lilibet - will become Elizabeth II in the future. From this bridge, the royal family looked at the Zambezi River for a long time, on which two islands received new names in honor of the royal daughters. Now Princess Elizabeth Island belongs to Zimbabwe, and Princess Margaret Island belongs to sovereign Zambia.

View from Zambia to Thundering Smoke

They don't say "Zimbabwe" or "Zambia" here, they abbreviate country names to short winters and Deputy There is a hot, almost hot sun in the dark blue sky, it sets behind us. It's time to leave Zim and get to Zambia. We walk across the bridge, past the queue for the bungee, past the line of cars at the border control.

"Are you long? Are you planning to spend the night in Zimbabwe? We answer: “Yes”, we are stamped with passports, then a standard wet rag, we pay for entrance to the park. “And it’s cheaper here,” we rejoice, get a leaflet with route options and go through Zambian soil.

Here we are the only whites - also a kind of attraction. We, as wedding generals, are constantly asked to stand to enliven the composition in the center of the laughing groups. Here the park is called “Thundering Smoke”, there is also a monument to Livingston, here is the same waterfall of stunning beauty, the same splashes and sparks.

Only here it’s not fog, but a wall of water dust through which you have to go. How right those who say that the miracle of Victoria Falls must be seen, both from the side of Zambia and from Zimbabwe.

Ooy! A gust of wind, a second tropical downpour and we, wet as mice, there is not a single dry thread. After waiting for the next flock of visitors to pass us, I pulled off my jeans and T-shirt, Sanya wringed them out and I pulled everything back on. I managed in time - another group of also wet and happy Chinese walked by.

Near the park there is a small souvenir market. Everything that was offered to us in Zimbabwe cannot be compared with the local assortment of elephants, hippos, figurines made of ebonite wood. It was more difficult to walk back across the bridge, the hands were pulling away the souvenirs. We were among the last to cross the border, when the sun was almost at the horizon.

Who wants to be a trillionaire?

The town of Victoria Falls greeted us with a hubbub of street beggars and merchants. They, seeing a bunch of packages and bundles in our hands, became two, no, three times more insistent. Buy that... Buy that, sir! Very cheap... But in Zim, one of the poorest countries in Africa, everything is shockingly expensive. However, Sanya could not resist and became the owner of a trillion dollars. True, Zimbabwean and out of circulation after the default, but still TRILLION - on the stunning banknote, the zeros barely fit in one line.

Do you know about the annual Ig Nobel Prize, which is a parody of the Nobel Prize? It is always funny and is awarded for useless and meaningless discoveries. A worthy reward for its laureates is a hammer in a glass box or a similar wonderful denomination - genuine one hundred trillion Zimbabwean dollars in one piece of paper.

What could the Zimbabweans get for their fabulous money? Almost nothing, even chocolates could not be bought for such a bill. The Central Bank of Zimbabwe, conducting a currency exchange in the country, for $ 250 trillion in national currency sparingly measured out one good old American dollar. The glory days for dreaming of being a billionaire ended after dollarization, and the number of millionaires itself has declined sharply - after all, the average salary in the country is about $ 253 per month.

Adventure comes to an end

Twilight came, for a billion people across Africa, another day was ending with its joys and difficulties ... We had dinner at the hotel at a table by the pool. Tonight, a local ethnic ensemble performed here. Seeing us as the only and interested audience, the artists gradually focused around us, which allowed us to record their inspired songs and dances on the phone.

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worldwide famous waterfall Victoria, who locals called "Mosi-oa-Tunya" ("thundering smoke") - one of the most picturesque and enchanting sights on the African continent.

Victoria Falls is a legendary attraction that attracts tourists from all over the world. Here the mighty Zambezi River falls down, forming a water curtain almost 2 kilometers long. Such a spectacle meets tourists who come here in the spring, when the river is filled with water to the maximum, so that every second 5 million liters of water fall down 100 meters and 30 km from the waterfall you can see clouds of steam rising above the water.

The waterfall is only the beginning of a picturesque section of the riverbed, because the river, shrouded in a cloud of spray, immediately rushes with a roar into a narrow gorge, along which it winds in zigzags for almost 70 km. These intricate twists and dizzying turns are caused by cracks in the rock, widened over millennia by the sheer force of water. The Zambezi River meanders over a plateau formed from layers of sandstone and basalt; at the meeting points of these two different rocks, cracks form.

Indeed, water spray rising from the waterfall forms a cloud that looks like smoke from afar. The waterfall owes its name to David Livingston, the discoverer and the first white man who saw it in 1885 and decided to name it in honor of the English Queen Victoria. When local natives escorted him to the waterfall and showed him 546 million liters of water, which every minute crashed into a 100-meter abyss, David Livingston was so shocked by what he saw that he immediately dubbed it the name of the queen.

At the waterfall, the width of the Zambezi River reaches 1.6 km. With a roar, water falls into a 106-meter opening formed in its path.

In 1857, David Livingstone wrote that in England no one can even imagine the beauty of this spectacle: “No one can imagine the beauty of the spectacle in comparison with anything seen in England. The eyes of a European had never seen such a thing before, but the angels in their flight must have admired such a beautiful sight!

Professor Livingston described the falls as the most beautiful sight he had seen in Africa: “Crawling with fear to the cliff, I looked down into a huge crack that stretched from coast to coast of the wide Zambezi, and saw how a stream thousands of yards wide rushed down to a hundred feet and then suddenly shrinking in a space of fifteen to twenty yards... I witnessed the most wonderful sight in Africa!”

The waterfall is extremely wide, approximately 1800 meters wide, the height of the water fall varies from 80 meters at the right bank of the waterfall to 108 meters in the center. Victoria Falls is about twice the height of Niagara Falls and more than twice as wide as its main section (the "Horseshoe"). Falling water creates spray and fog that can rise to a height of 400 meters or more. The fog created by the waterfall is visible at a distance of up to 50 kilometers. During the rainy season, more than 500 million liters of water per minute pass through the waterfall, due to the enormous force of the falling water, the spray rises hundreds of meters into the air. In 1958, during the Zambezi flood, a record level of flow was recorded - more than 770 million liters per minute.

Access to the waterfall From Zimbabwe, the entrance to the Victoria Falls National Park is paid (25 USD). The hotels are located in the town of Victoria Falls. The closest to the waterfall are Victoria Falls Hotel 5*, The Kingdom at Victoria Falls 4* and Ilala Lodge 5*. From the Zambian side, everything is much more interesting. If you live in one of the hotels of the Sun International group (Zambezi Sun 3 * or The Royal Livingstone 5 *, then the entrance to the waterfall is free for you and unlimited directly from the territory of the hotels. For those who live in other hotels and lodges, the entrance is paid - USD 30. Plus, you have to drive every time, as the rest of the hotels are located upstream of the Zambezi.

The waterfall, by some measures, is the largest waterfall in the world, and is also one of the most unusual in form (the waterfall is an extraordinary sight - a narrow abyss into which water falls), and having perhaps the most diverse and easily observed wildlife any section of the waterfall.

Although Victoria Falls is neither the tallest nor the most wide waterfall in the world, its status as the largest is based on a width of 1708 and a height of 108 meters, forming the largest sheet of falling water in the world. Numerous islands on the crest of the waterfall divide the water current into several branches. The dense fog and thunderous roar produced by the waterfall can be perceived from a distance of about 40 km.

A few meters ahead and you fall down with the waterfall.

One of the largest waterfalls in the world. It is located in South Africa on the river Zambezi. Water falls from a ledge 120 meters high into a deep and rather narrow basalt canyon, saturating environment giant columns of water dust that can be seen from a distance of 40 kilometers.

Victoria is the main attraction of South Africa, located at the junction of the national parks "Victoria Falls" (Zimbabwe) and "Thundering Smoke" (Zambia), is also included in world heritage UNESCO.

It attracts tourists from all over the world and literally fascinates them with its uniqueness. The roar of the waterfall is heard so far away that the hunters from the tribe batoka They called him Mosi-oa-Tunya, which means "thundering smoke." Matabele- a tribe living on the other side of the river - also gave it a poetic name - "the place of the rainbow" (Chongue). sparkles here with all the colors, and it looks very beautiful!

Over the gorge, ring rainbows are almost constantly dazzling, and during the full moon you can sometimes see an amazing phenomenon here - moon rainbow , which can be found only in some places in the world, for example, at Niagara Falls.

Victoria is surrounded on three sides by wooded cliffs about 100 meters high. The forest that grows along the banks is called Dozhdev, and the silvery refreshing rain really falls in these places all year round, the whole day, but it falls from a thundering gorge, and not from the sky.

If you swim along the river to the waterfall, it will seem that a third shore suddenly appears across the current. This is how the missionary saw Victoria David Livingston- Discoverer of Victoria. Livingston was so amazed by the beauty that he immediately gave it a name in honor of the Queen of Britain. A monument to this great explorer was erected on the bank of the waterfall.

Many eyewitnesses say that the most striking sight at the waterfall is the pillars of “thundering smoke” that look like huge torches over the abyss, in harmony with the golden rays of the sunset.

From a geological point of view, Victoria Falls is a crack formed due to the occurrence of rocks of different hardness in the neighborhood - basalts and sandstones. The width of this waterfall exceeds 1700 meters, the height is approximately 128 meters. The islets divide Victoria into five streams: Main Falls, Devil's Falls, Horseshoe, East and Rainbow Falls.

ROUNDING SMOKE

Daoud. My oa Tunya. The appearance of a waterfall giant. poetic description. In memory of a great traveler.

The streams of water that clothed her,

Breaking, breaking on the stones,

And clubs of foam take off in rings,

And thin light steam tends to rise,

Hiding the colonnades of the waterfall;

He is like a rainbow with a brilliance of colors,

Half-day proud solar tiara,

And at night it is as white as the Milky Way,

And dotted with little stars..

Strive, waterfall, and sing for everyone

For the coming generations of Africans.

On November 17, 1855, a light canoe driven by two Negroes was rapidly moving along the great African Zambezi River. The third was a European. His weather-beaten, tanned face was overshadowed by a friendly, good-natured smile, and his gaze was directed downstream of the river, in the direction of the movement of the boat. Every now and then, exclamations of genuine surprise and admiration escaped from the passenger's lips. Sometimes he got up impatiently, trying to see something ahead.

Watch out, Daud! So you can turn around! And if this happens, troubles cannot be avoided: My oa Tunya will swallow everyone. Yes Yes! She doesn't like to joke... - respectfully addressing the European, said the elder of the Negroes.

Don't worry, old man, don't worry, it won't come to that. Everything will be OK. Get over there on that island. From there, everything will probably be clearly visible. Press, Takeleng, press!

Dangerous, Daud, very dangerous! Suddenly we can’t cope with the flow, what then? Let's get lost for nothing. - the Negro grumbled uneasily, and meanwhile he himself pressed the oar, shouting at his comrade, so that he would more accurately rule the island.

The traveler did not hear his fears. All his attention was focused on what lay ahead. Let's take a look down the river with him.

The wide majestic Zambezi rolled its waters quickly among the green high walls of the forest. A few hundred meters below, its course was broken into streams by black basalt islands. And above the river and the islands, five huge columns of swirling smoke rose high into the sky, appearing here as if above a giant conflagration. And the rumble was so strong that it drowned out the voices of the people sitting in the canoe.

Safely overcoming a strong current, the Negroes deftly drove the canoe to the island and pulled it onto the rocky shore. Then all three went to the opposite end of the island.

Dowd, follow me. It's very dangerous here! Wrong step - and you will fly down, you will not collect the bones! So good; carefully look under your feet, do not stumble, - as if an old black man said to a European as if he were a small child.

Now, Daoud, let's crawl. Slowly, don't rush. Only in this way, lying down, you can approach the cliff.

And now all three slowly crawl to the edge of the cliff.

If there had been someone else in the place of the man whom Takeleng respectfully called Daud, then it is possible that he would have recoiled in horror or froze in mortal fright, seeing a terrible, deep abyss that had opened up under them, at the bottom of which a boiling cauldron was seething.

But the traveler, who has wandered for many years through the mountains, forests and wilds of Africa, is used to all sorts of surprises. Dangers more than once lay in wait for him along the way, and more than once he looked death straight in the eyes.

Yes, Takeleng, what I was told about My oa Tunya exceeded all my expectations! What a pristine beauty, I can't find words! the traveler says.

Daud sees how the streams, separated by islands on the edge of a rocky cliff, roll down and fall from a great height to the bottom of the abyss, where chaos reigns from boiling water, spray and foam. And a white cloud looms over the abyss, and from it rises up to a great height a giant pillar of either steam or smoke. Undoubtedly, this is one of those five pillars that he had seen before. The lower part of the pillar is girded with two arcs of rainbows, so brightly colored as if they were woven from shiny fibers of multi-colored silk.

The enchanted traveler cannot take his eyes off the enchanting spectacle for a long time. He is so depressed and shocked that he really could not immediately find words to describe what he saw. This is evidenced by the sparing lines in his diary: “... a wonderful, unusual spectacle of a majestic waterfall opened up before us. Trying to describe it in words is a hopeless exercise. To my oa, Tunya is so extraordinary that it must always seem like a miracle ... "

And only in England, in the following year, 1856, still under the impression of what he saw, he described the waterfall in more detail in his book Travels and Researches of a Missionary in South Africa, published in many countries and glorifying his name.

The reader has now evidently recognized this man. Yes it was famous traveler David Livingston. In 1841, he arrived in Africa as a missionary to preach the word of God and convert pagan Negroes to the "truly correct" Christian faith. However, carried away by travels in Africa, he became a geographer-naturalist, and missionary work faded into the background.

Livingston did many important things in Africa. geographical discoveries. He was the first European to visit many parts of the continent, on previously unknown rivers, lakes, in unfamiliar areas. One day, he learned from local Negroes that a large river flows in the southern part of the mainland. “Since that time, the hope of opening a waterway to a completely unexplored and densely populated area has taken over me more and more…” he wrote.

Discover the unknown before big river in order to use it as a shipping route to bring European culture to the dark African peoples, to eliminate the shameful human trafficking, to import goods, medicines, everything necessary - these were the noble intentions of Livingston.

A tireless researcher, a true friend of black people, naively believed in all this. But how wrong he was! The white invasion of Africa brought the peoples not culture and freedom, but enslavement, misfortune, death.

And Livingston, with great energy, not sparing himself, makes long journeys into the depths of the African continent. Negro friends were faithful companions in his endless campaigns.

Looking for " big river» Livingston walked from one river to another.

The negro companions were perplexed. “What, you don’t have enough water in this river? they asked the researcher. - We drink water from it and are satisfied. Are you really that thirsty for water?

So, traveling through South Africa, Livingston ended up on the Zambezi River, the largest waterway in this part of the African continent.

Some of Livingston's biographers assert, and evidently not without reason, that he was fond of rivers, but disliked waterfalls; they often interfered with his travels along the rivers and were often an insurmountable obstacle that had to be bypassed.

Contemplating the majestic waterfall, Livingston thought bitterly that his dream of opening a large navigable river that could be used to communicate with the interior of the country had not been fully realized. The waterfall tore her apart. He was relieved somewhat when he learned that the rest of the Zambezi was free from large rapids and waterfalls.

Livingston gave the name Victoria to the grandiose waterfall on the Zambezi. He did this in honor of the then reigning Queen of England. The local population does not recognize this and still calls the waterfall Moei oa Tunya, which means “Thundering Smoke”. Another name is less common - Chongue - Rainbow. The Arabs, who obviously experienced a mystical fear of an amazing natural phenomenon, the waterfall is known as the "Doomsday".

And now for the waterfall itself. Actually, he, like Iguaza, consists of many waterfalls, and five of them are the largest and most important. Each has its own name.

The one closest to south coast, is called "Devil's Falls", followed by "Main Falls", next to it is "Rainbow", and the most extreme - "Eastern". They fall from a height of 90-120 meters into a deep and narrow crack in the earth's crust, which suddenly opens up in the path of the Zambezi River.

Waterfalls are diverse: some fall in the form of a curtain, others, crashing against protruding rocks, form a series of cascades and waterfalls.

In the rainy season, in early spring, the waterfalls are especially violent: at this time, a huge amount of flood water flows along the Zambezi River. From September to December, the rainless period lasts, the water in the river is much less, the waterfalls are calmer.

An exceptional spectacle is the waterfalls in a quiet windless time. Huge masses of the smallest water dust, gathering into clouds, rise high into the sky in five pillars. They can be seen far away, 20-25 kilometers from here. And the roar of the waters falling into the crevasse, we hear for several kilometers.

Light rain falls from the clouds above the waterfalls. It irrigates the surroundings of the waterfall, so everything here is covered with lush vegetation. The vast array of forest near the waterfall is called “Rain Forest”.

It is not surprising that passengers traveling by train or in cars across a bridge built below the waterfalls through a narrow gorge sometimes get good portions of rain on their heads. It is very pleasant to receive such a peculiar greeting from waterfalls in summer - it is hot!

The air is so saturated with water dust that on clear days rainbows are sure to shine over the waterfall. They play even at night, in bright moonlight.

From the narrow cleft into which the waters of the Zambezi fall, there is only one narrow exit, and the waters rush there. Below, they flow along the bottom of the deep and narrow zigzag canyon of Batoka, where the depth of the stream reaches 20–30 meters.

Beautiful, very beautiful Victoria Falls! Perhaps the best description of it belongs to the pen of the hunter and naturalist James Chapman, a contemporary of David Livingston; here is an excerpt from it:

“We were standing in front of a wonderful creation, which combined an amazing variety of such grandiose and most beautiful phenomena that they inspired horror, admiration and genuine joy at the same time ... they played in two or three amazing rainbows, throwing their bright arcs first into the depths of the gorge, and then raising them higher and higher. The rainbows here are so vibrant and bright that you will never see in the sky. The lower one was so blinding that it was almost impossible to look at it. Rising up, the rainbows reached the clouds above the waterfall. Contemplating the waterfalls, you see thousands of the most beautiful phenomena that defy description ... Many jets of steam, quickly rushing upwards, passing through wide living bands of rainbows, looked so amazingly like flames that I even believed it. The stream from the rocky ridge fell rapidly into the depths of the abyss, resembling giant folds of snow-white drapery, and the water cosmos that suddenly appeared on the edge of the black rocks glittered in the sun like diamond threads. The picture changed dramatically in order to repeat itself again ... "

Not far from the waterfall stands a monument to Livingston. His name was given to a nearby city, where there is a museum. Many exhibits related to the life of the great traveler are stored here.

To admire the wonderful waterfall, many tourists come here from different parts of the world.

It is said that on the island from which Livingston first observed the falls, there is still a tree where he carved his initials.

If, dear reader, you ever have to visit Victoria Falls, pay attention to the inscriptions warning tourists not to walk near the cliff, because falling into the abyss threatens with imminent death. It is impossible to see the waterfalls from one place, so you need to walk a lot from one end to the other. So, be careful, because quite unexpectedly you can meet with crocodiles. We must pay tribute to the delicacy of the latter - they prefer not to attack, but to get out as soon as possible. They, like other animals, are not touched here, since the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe waterfalls has been declared a reserve.