Victoria Falls Things to Do Tips by PierreZA Top 5 Page for this destination

Day trip to Livingstone (Zambia)

It is quite easy to manage a day trip to Zambia and Livingstone from Victoria Falls. You need to get your passport stamped on exit and entry for each country.
The easiest way to get there is to walk over the bridge. A few hundred metres after the Zambian Border Post, you will find the entrance to the Zambian side of the Victoria Falls.
Livingstone is about 10km from the Falls, and it is best to take a taxi. We paid 5 US $ for a oneway trip into Livingstone.
Livingstone is a lovely and vibrant town. There is such a huge difference between the two sides of the Zambezi.
Visit the Livingstone Museum to get a better understanding of Zambia and the People of this country.
You can read my Livingstone page for more info

The Falls (Bridge & Zambia)

To experience the totality of the Falls, do visit the Zambia side as well. Here you will see spectacular views of the western part of the Victoria Falls. This side of the Falls was much busier, and we had to stand in a queue for about 30 – 40 minutes.
You also get much wetter at this part of the Falls!
Don’t miss the Zambia side of Victoria Falls. It is best to walk across the bridge from Zimbabwe to Zambia. From here, you also have some great views of the Falls.

See my Livingstone page for more details.

David Livingstone

As you enter the Victoria Fall National Park, you will find a stuatue of David Livingstone near the Devils Cataract.
David Livingstone (1813-1873) was a Scottish missionary, who was originally assigned to do missionary work in SOuth Africa. He undertook various expiditions and became a famous explorer of the African Continent.
On 16 November 1855 he named the falls the ''Victoria Falls'', after his Queen at that stage.
You will also find a stuatue of him at the Victoria Falls at the Zambia side.

Look out point

If you take the small back road which goes the Kingdom Hotel, you will find a sign about this lookout point. A short walk (about 200m) leads you to a lookout point which gives you great views of the bridge spanning the gorge. You can also see the spectacular winding of the Zambezi River.

Walking with Lions

I did not go along on this excursion, but my friend travelling with me did. I was quite disappointed that I did not go, as this seems to be a very unique experience. They were only 5 people in the group which makes it very pleasant. You spend about 40 minutes with the lions (3 of them).
The trip costs 115 US $ (April 2009).
When you look at the photos, it really seems worth the money!

Crossing the Bridge

The bridge spanning a gorge close to the falls, connects Zimbabwe and Zambia (Victoria Falls bridge/Zambezi Bridge). You will have to get a ‘gate pass’ at the Zimbabwe Border Control and a stamp in your passport. Half way on the bridge you will leave Zimbabwe and enter Zambia. A bit further on, you will reach Zambia border control if you want to enter Zambia, you can get your passport stamped.

The views of the gorge and falls from the bridge are spectacular. It is also from this bridge where bungy jumping is done.

To get a good view of the bridge, you have to walk towards the most western end of the pathway in the Victoria Falls Park (Zimbabwe).

The Falls (Walking/Exploring)

As you enter the Park, the most obvious way is to go left, follow the path where you will get to the first lookout point, and the part of the Falls called the Cataract. You have to climb down a couple of steps to get the view. This was my first closer encounter of the Falls. It is not possible to describe what the Falls look like, or the impact it has! (photo1)
Turn around and go back with the steps, continue east, where you will get to the point where the Falls ‘start’. The mighty Zambezi plunges over the cliffs with an amazing speed and volume. This part is called the Devil’s Cataract. (photo2).
There are well designed pathways to follow. Barriers are made of thorn busehes and branches.
When you get to see the main part of the falls (photo3) - it is jaw-dropping beautiful.
Continue to horse shoe and then Danger Point, where the falls plummet 97m downwards (photo4). It was too wet and "raining heavily" to take good photos here.
If you continue further, you get to the end of the Zimbabwe side of the Falls, with a great view of the bridge and gorge (photo5)

The Falls (Overview/Introduction)

The entrance to the Victoria Falls National Park is very easy to find. Before you enter, you will find a row of shops renting rain coats, selling cold drinks, post cards etc.
Entrance to the Park costs 20 US$, but if you are regional (like from South Africa) you will only pay 15 US$ if you have your passport with you.
Give yourself enough time to admire this natural wonder of the world.
There are many lookout points along the way. In some areas you will get soaking wet, some areas look like rain forests. You will constantly hear the thunderous sound of the plunging masses of water.
Do have something waterproof to protect your camera, wear sensible clothing and shoes.

Activities on offer

There are many tour operators offering a wide variety of activities. We were able to book activities at our hotel. They made use of different tour operators fro different activities. I am not sure if this is the cheapest option, but it was very convenient.
Activities offered include:
A day trip to Chobe (Botswana) for game viewing
Sunset Cruises
Falls Tours
Elephant-back safaris
Rafting
Lion encounters
Helicopter flights
Canoe safaris
During the months of April and May you will not be able to raft, as the water levels are too high and rough.
Most of these activities are quite expensive and range from 40 US $ for a sunset cruise, to 175 US $
for a 15 min - 30 min helicopter ride.

Sunset Cruise

There are many tour operators offering sunset cruises on the Zambezi River. We went with Maponya and had a great experience. They will pick you up from your hotel. Before boarding the boat, we were welcomed by a group performing traditional song and dance.
All drinks are included in the price, and snacks are also served.
The tour guide gave some very good information about the river. We were also lucky to see hippos during the cruise.
We paid 40 US $ for the cruise (April 2009).