"Victoria Falls" a Victoria Falls Travel Page by stevezero

The Victoria falls is a spectacular waterfall located about midway along the course of the Zambezi River at the border between Zambia to the north and Zimbabwe to the south. Approximately twice as wide and twice as deep as the Niagara Falls the waterfall spans the entire breadth of the Zambezi River at one of its widest points (more than 5,500 feet [1,700 metres]). At the falls, the river plunges over a sheer precipice to a maximum drop of 355 feet (108 metres). The falls' mean flow is almost 33,000 cubic feet (935 cubic metres) per second.
The Zambezi River does not gather speed as it nears the drop, the approach being signaled only by the mighty roar and characteristic veil of mist for which the Kalolo-Lozi people named the falls Mosi-o-Tunya ("The Smoke That Thunders").

The British explorer David Livingstone was the first European to see the falls (Nov. 16, 1855). He named them after Queen Victoria. A statue of Livingatone can be seen on the Zimbabwe side of the falls.
The falls now attract visitors from all around the world.

The waters of Victoria Falls do not drop into an open basin but rather into a chasm that varies in width from 80 to 240 feet (25 to 75 metres). This chasm is formed by the precipice of the falls and by an opposite rock wall of equal height. The chasm's only outlet is a narrow channel, and through this gorge, which is less than 210 feet (65 metres) wide and 390 feet (120 metres) long, flows the entire volume of the Zambezi River. At the gorge's end is the Boiling Pot, a deep pool into which the waters churn and foam at flood time. Just below the Boiling Pot, the gorge is spanned by the Victoria Falls (Zambezi) Bridge, which carries rail, automobile, and pedestrian traffic between Zambia and Zimbabwe.