Victoria Falls Day 1: Zebras, Impala, and over 287,400 gallons per second.

The missions part of my trip is over, and now I get to have almost 4 days of tourism to see God’s creations in Africa. I am blessed that I was able to save up the money to go to Victoria Falls on the Zambia side. For those who do not know, Victoria Falls is one of the 7 Natural Wonders of the World and it is an UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is classified as the largest waterfall in the world, though it is neither the tallest nor the widest. This is because the combination of both makes it huge. It is 1,708 meters (5,604 ft) wide and 108 meters (354 ft) high. It flows at an annual average of 287,400 gallons per second, though I am here in peak season, so it is probably going faster. It lies on the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Both the sound and the amount of mist that Falls release are amazing. The Falls runs into a gorge between two land masses, and I hiked along the land mass opposite the Falls today with my travel companions (Amy and Clare). Clare and I got absolutely soaked just by the mist that splashes up from the Falls. It was totally awesome!

The mist is unreal. We couldn’t even see the entire Falls because the mist obstructed the view so much. There were rainbows forming everywhere in the winter sun, and the jungle around the Falls is extremely lush due to the constant mist of water. It’s like a rainforest, except the rain comes from the Falls.

 The hotel I am staying at is only a 5 minute walk from the Falls, so as I sit in my hotel room, I can hear the Falls right now. When I walk up to my block of the hotel, I can see the mist from the Falls floating above the trees and buildings. The hotel is also in the middle of the Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park of Zambia, so we have several animals that simply walk through the hotel grounds. So far I have been mere feet from wild zebras and impala, and I have seen one monkey. Apparently giraffes and other monkeys walk through the grounds as well.

By the way, Mosi-oa-Tunya means “smoke that thunders”, which is the indigenous name for Victoria Falls. David Livingstone, the famous missionary and explorer, named the water “Victoria Falls” after Queen Victoria. On the Zambia side, the Falls are technically in the city of Livingstone, but the city on the Zimbabwe side is called Victoria Falls.

Tomorrow I will get to walk cheetahs on leashes. These are young cheetahs that have been raised in captivity, but will be released to the wild to help maintain the cheetah population. We will walk them in the bush to help them get used to their wild environment. I also have heard rumors that I will get to pet them and watch them run, but I will let you know tomorrow if that is true. My brothers and I used to pretend we were cheetahs all the time, so it is cool that I will get to be right next to them!

I am also going on a sunset cruise tomorrow on the Zambezi River with Amy, Clare, and 12 other people who were at Camp LIFE this week. Then, on Monday, we will all go on a day trip safari in Botswana, one of Zambia’s other neighbors! I can’t wait!