Africa 2001

Victoria Falls

Early on Sunday morning, we flew from Johannesburg to Victoria Falls, in north-west Zimbabwe.

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The hustle and bustle of Victoria Falls International Airport. In one corner of the arrivals room, we all filled in our immigration cards, then queued to get them stamped. This permitted us to cross a red line across the room to a hole in the wall through which the baggage handler passed our suitcases. We then walked past the customs table and outside.

We then travelled along a few kilometres of the Livingstone Highway from the airport through the green forest to the small town of Victoria Falls. The coaches were the same ones as we'd used the previous day in Johannesburg, having driven up overnight. (In fact, they started in Cape Town earlier in the week.)

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As it was only nine o'clock in the morning, our hotel rooms weren't ready, so the coaches stopped at small centre with a number of craft shops. We were treated to a delightful performance from these musicians.

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We stayed for two nights at the Kingdom Hotel - a sprawling but very pleasant hotel.

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The view from our balcony.

In the afternoon, we travelled down the road to the Victoria Falls National Park.

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The Livingstone Statue, overlooking the Falls. The name Victoria was given to the Falls by the Scottish missionary and explorer David Livingstone, who visited them in 1855.

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One of the most spectacular waterfalls in the world, Victoria Falls is formed as the entire flow of the Zambezi River drops from a relatively flat plain into a narrow cataract. The mist and noise produced by the drop of 108m (about 350 ft) inspired the waterfall's local name, Mosi-oa-Tunya ("smoke that thunders"). Here we look across the Devil's Cataract into the bottom of the gorge.

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A closer look at the top of the Devil's Cataract

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The spray makes the whole area very damp, and in the mornings the Falls have their own cloud. It also makes capturing them on camera rather difficult, as the spray tends to obscure full views of the 1709 metre-wide falls. Here you can see the bottom of the gorge.

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The Western Falls

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Lucy and Kathleen in their protective macs.

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The Devil's Cataract again

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Unless otherwise stated, all images copyright (c) Stephen and Lucy Dawson