- Victoria Falls

Zimbabwe

The people of Zimbabwe are really friendly, their music and arts are world famous and some of their National Parks are amongst Africa's finest. Victoria Falls is the Adventure capital of southern Africa, with loads of activities on offer like, white water rafting, microlighting, jet boat or river boarding, sundowner cruises, elephant back safaris and loads more.

Tours that pass through Zimbabwe

• The Four Country Classic  20 Days: Cape Town to Victoria Falls
  
  
• Wildlife Discovery  10 Days: Windhoek to Victoria Falls
  
  
• Chobe Mobile Safari & Victoria Falls 5 Days: Victoria Falls to Victoria Falls
  
  

Must do's

• Go on a WildLife Adventures safari tour that visits Zimbabwe.
• Experience a real' safari on top a huge elephant bull
• Brave the mighty Zambezi white river rafting and be tossed around by Nyaminyami', the Zambezi River God.
• The Boma Restaurant' at Victoria Fall offers an evening of traditional feasting and drinking
• Join the adrenaline junkies - bungi off Victoria Falls Bridge.
• Taste a good many of the local Zimbabwean beers while on a sundowner cruise on the Zambezi River.

QUICK FACTS - ZIMBABWE

Area: 390,310 sq km
Population: 11.9 million
Official languages: English
Time: GMT/UTC +2
Currency: Zimbabwe dollar
Capital: Harare

MORE ON ZIMBABWE

Victoria Falls National Park:

The local people who led David Livingstone to this magical place in 1855 call it "Mosi-oa-Tanya". The Smoke That Thunders can be seen 70km away. "Scenes so lovely, must have been gazed upon by angels in their flight," said David Livingstone.

Victoria Falls National Park was included on the World Heritage list in 1989.

The park comprises the left bank of the Zambezi River above Victoria Falls, the eastern half of the falls themselves, and a series of deep gorges below the falls. The falls are the most significant feature of the park, and when the Zambezi is in full flood (usually February or March) they form the largest curtain of falling water in the world. During these months, over 500 million liters or water per minute go over the falls, which are 1708m wide, and drop 99m at Rainbow Falls in Zambia. At low water in November flow can be reduced to around 10 million litters/minute, and the river is divided into a series of braided channels that descend in many separate falls.

Below the falls the river enters a narrow series of gorges, which represent locations successively occupied by the falls earlier in their history. Since the uplifting of the Makgadikgadi Pan area some two million years ago, the Zambezi River has been cutting through the basalt base rock, exploiting weak fissures, and forming a series of retreating gorges. Seven previous waterfalls occupied the seven gorges below the present falls, and Devil's Cataract in Zimbabwe is where the next cut back will form a new waterfall that will eventually leave the present falls lip high above the river in the gorge below.

GEOGRAPHY

Zimbabwe is situated on a high plateau in South Central Africa collectively known as Southern Africa, between Limpopo and Zambezi rivers. It is landlocked and bounded by Zambia to the north and northwest, by South Africa to the south, by Mozambique to the east and northeast and by Botswana to the South West.

HISTORY

There are a number of Iron Age sites in Zimbabwe, with artifacts dating from AD 180. These early cultures were supplanted by Bantu-speaking peoples, who migrated into the area after the 5th cent. The ruins at Zimbabwe date from the 12th to the 15th cent. In the early 16th cent the Portuguese made contact with Shona-dominated states and developed a trade in gold and other items. During the 1830s, the Shona-speaking people were subjected to Ndebele invaders, who forced them to pay tribute. British and Boer traders and hunters moved into the area, and the London Missionary Society established a mission to the Ndebele in 1861.

In 1889 the British South Africa Company, organized by Cecil Rhodes, obtained a charter to promote commerce and colonization in the region. Leander Starr Jameson and associate of Rhodes, led a column of South African and British pioneers deep into the interior, where they founded (1890) Fort Salisbury. Fighting in 1893 resulted in the defeat of the Ndebele and the takeover of their territory by Rhodes's company. Both the Ndebele and the Shona staged unsuccessful revolts against the British in 189697. The settlers pressed the company for political rights, and in 1914 the British government renewed the company's charter on the condition that self-government be granted to the settlers by 1924.

CULTURE

The two main ethnic groups are the Shona (76%), who occupy the north and east, and the Ndebele (18%), who live in the west. The remainder of the population is divided between Tonga, (upper Kariba), Shangaan or Hlengwe (lowverld), Venda (far south) and Europeans and Asians (scattered around the country).

CLIMATE

The country enjoys a pleasantly moderate climate, with temperatures ranging from an average 22o C on the plateau to 30o C in the Zambezi Valley during summer (November to April) and from 13o C to 20o C in winter (May to October). Most rains fall in the afternoon and electrical storms occur in the relatively humid warm-weather months (November to April).

TRAVEL TIPS

• Don't pull out huge amounts of cash in public places.
• Never change money on the black market. You are likely to get ripped off.