Victoria Falls © Tricia Hayne
Spot a Livingstone’s lourie whilst observing the impressive spray of one the world’s most dramatic waterfalls.
The Falls are 1,688m wide and average just over 100m in height. Around 550 million litres (750 million during peak months) cascade over the lip every minute, making this one of the world’s greatest waterfalls. Closer inspection shows that this immense curtain of water is interrupted by gaps, where small islands stand on the lip of the Falls. These effectively split the Falls into smaller waterfalls, which are known as (from west to east) the Devil’s Cataract, the Main Falls, the Horseshoe Falls, the Rainbow Falls and the Eastern Cataract. Around the Falls is a genuinely important and interesting rainforest, with plant species (especially ferns) rarely found elsewhere in Zimbabwe or Zambia. These are sustained by the clouds of spray, which blanket the immediate vicinity of the Falls. You’ll also find various monkeys and baboons here, whilst the lush canopy shelters Livingstone’s lourie amongst other birds.