Victoria Falls is one of the Seven Wonders of the Natural World. It is a huge, 108 metre waterfall of the Zambezi River, that straddles Zambia and Zimbabwe. I stayed on the Zimbabwe side.
It is a very busy place full of tourists from all over Africa and the whole world. It is also full of locals, touting their wares, which can be quite frustrating at times. One of the things the street sellers regularly approach you with is the Zimbabwean currency. Due to inflation the Zimbabwean currency lost all of it’s value. The money went into bank notes of billions and I believe, even trillions. Since losing its worth, the country switched it’s official currency to something stronger and more reliable, the US dollar. As a result, Zimbabwe, particularly Vic Falls, is quite expensive.
The town of Victoria Falls on the Zimbabwe side is really quite small and appears to just cater to tourists. Adventure activity booking agencies, souvenir shops and cafe’s line the streets of this tiny town.
I made several activity booking through Shearwater Adventures. I booked a triple package to get the bulk discount. My three activities were a helicopter flight, bungy jump and whitewater rafting for USD$385.
The Helicopter Flight was a 12-13 minute flight over Victoria Falls. It provided a phenomenal view of the falls, which gave perspective to the flow of the river from above and below. It also gave perspective to the massive size/breadth of the falls themselves. It was a short flight, but had fantastic views.
The Bungy Jump was over the Zambezi River, just outside of the Zimbabwe border crossing, but before the Zambian border crossing. You don’t have to pay an exit fee or worry about multiple entry visa’s to access the bridge, you just need to grab a gate pass (for free) at immigration. The Bungy is 111metres and was absolutely amazing! At the bottom, the spray of the waterfall formed two concentric circle rainbows, which was spectacular!! While it was fun, Bungy Jumping is something I have now done twice and I don’t really plan to do it again. I would highly recommend looking into doing the Gorge Swing at Vic Falls.
Due to the ridiculously high water levels, the whitewater rafting could only be done on the lower section of the river. Which for safety reasons, I am very happy with, but it would have been nice to do the upper section. We rafted from Rapid #14, the terminator, down to #24. The Terminator was the only Grade 5 rapid of the day and it was pretty epic!! Despite not having rapids as high a grade as I would have liked, it was still an absolute blast and I would highly recommend doing it.
After all these full-on activities, I took things down a notch, and paid my USD$30 to enter the national park and actually just look at the falls, which are simply stunning! If you head to the falls during high water, make sure you take something protective for any electronics you are carrying, because you will get soaked from head to toe, through all layers of clothing.
Victoria Falls was a hive of activity and it is a place I thoroughly enjoyed visiting! It was also a place where I sadly said Goodbye to one altogether amazing tour group; but said Hello to a new tour group who I hope will be just as much fun!
