Discover the majestic Victoria Falls, a UNESCO World Heritage site, its geological formation, and its significance to both nature and people.
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Where the Zambezi Takes the Plunge
This series, The Smoke that Thunders, explores Victoria Falls — one of the largest and most dramatic waterfalls on Earth, straddling the border between Zimbabwe and…
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1
The Tonga Name for Boiling Water
The Tonga people, who have lived along the Zambezi for centuries, call the falls Shungu Namutitima — meaning boiling water. Stand close enough and you understand why.
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2
A Missionary's First Glimpse of Mist
David Livingstone paddled a dugout canoe to the very edge of the abyss in November 1855, crawling to the lip of the basalt cliff on an island that now bears his name.
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3
The Largest Sheet of Falling Water
No single waterfall on Earth moves more water across a wider curtain than Victoria Falls.
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4
Night Rainbows in the Zambezi Gorges
On certain moonlit nights, the spray rising from the Zambezi produces something most people never expect to see — a rainbow after dark.
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5
Spray-Fed Rainforest on Desert's Edge
A strip of tropical rainforest thrives in one of southern Africa's drier regions, kept alive entirely by the constant spray rising from the gorge.
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