Mosi-oa-Tunya  [Victoria Falls]

Set on the borders of Zambia and Zimbabwe it’s not the only highlight of Zimbabwe. Like any other African country Zimbabwe too has rich wild life comprising of all the big four. Plus it’s the only country in the world to have maximum number of rock paintings dating back to thousands of years. May be for want of time, Victoria Falls was the only one on the agenda. Though English is spoken widely it has more than 14 commonly spoken languages, another India? (Coffee table knowledge: Papua New Guinea has the world record of having maximum number of languages still in use!)

Like any other country in colonial Africa Zimbabwe too has tumultuous history. Previously known as South Rhodesia, it faced so many problems that it was about to collapse any time. At times the inflation was so high that to buy one loaf of bread one had to shell out piles and piles of currency notes. So it was jokingly said, ‘Poor Millionaire’ who has millions but cannot buy a single loaf of bread!

Like every recently liberated African nation it had many upheavals. It was doing, may be great under Mugabe but times changed and like every other African leader of those times he too had to face the heat. As of now Zimbabwe is still struggling on the economic front and has accepted multi-currency economy. All four major currencies, Dollar, Pound, Euro and Yuan are freely accepted. We did not have to bother as ours was conducted tour and one never had to deal with actual cash.

We were woken up by the gentle rays of morning sun peeping in our room through the curtains. Sunrise is always so invigorating! Today was the day to visit one of the 7 natural wonders of the world, Mosi-oa-Tunya, THE Victoria Falls.

Breakfast at Elephant Hill resort was fit for the Kings. Spread lavishly with dishes from all over the world. It was really treat for me! I don’t know how to put it without sounding vulgar but I have to. All the African waitresses serving in the restaurant were buxom! Well endowed on all the fronts. Few of them, so well that they formed the shape of ‘S’! They were so opposite to the girls we used to call in our Medical college days, ‘Dorso-ventrally’ flattened! I am extremely sorry if I have offended anybody’s sensibilities but it is what it is! (Kidding!)

Victoria Falls are in Victoria Falls national park and one has to pay hefty entry fees in Dollars. $ 58 for Non Zimbabwean and $ 7 for locals. Even fellow Africans are charged like rest of the world. Here the discrepancy is very evident. The camaraderie amongst the African Black is so thick that no one proclaims to be Kenyan or Ugandan when casually addressed to; it’s always ‘African Blacks!’ Here in Asia when we say Asians White World takes it to be only Japanese, Chinese or Koreans. Indians or Filipinas have to clarify distinctly! May be it is dictum but at the entrance of the national park we were greeted by a troupe of African dancers. They asked me to join and me too complied shaking a leg or two!

It’s 2^nd biggest/largest fall in the world, next only to Iguaçu falls on the border of Brazil and Argentina. Niagara stands poor third in every aspect, height, length, width and water volume.

There is trail of 14 spots to view the falls from different angles. Zambezi River after traversing languidly on the plains of Zambia like silver serpent spreads in to a mile long bed of water that’s hardly deep before plunging in to chasm in the canyon over  steep cliff. It straddles between borders of Zambia and Zimbabwe before taking the final plunge. It plummets into Boiling Pot, the base of the falls.

Colossal curtain of water that plunges around 350 feet deep in the chasm creates a veil of mist with thunder. Known as Mosi-oa-Tunya in local language, Mist with thunder!

It has different nomenclature for different gorges. The first one is Devil’s cataract, that’s in Zimbabwe. Here the cataract means large body of water. It is followed by Main falls, that too in Zimbabwe. Rest all of them are in Zambia. They are Devil’s pool, Angel’s pool, Horse shoe falls, Rainbow falls, Devil’s pool 2 and last, the East cataract! But in fact the entire fall is better viewed from Zimbabwe side as the cliff of canyon runs parallel to the falls.

When we set out to see the falls, at the out set there was statue of David Livingstone a Scottish doctor, who invented (?!) the falls. He named it after Queen Victoria immediately, the then queen of Britain! In India there was ‘N’ number of traitors who backstabbed their masters at the slightest pretext, while the entire white explorer was always loyal to their Kings, Queens or Monarchs even though they did not deserve the servitude!  

The first sighting of the falls itself made me wonder with excitement laced with fear of the monstrous power of the nature.

It was that ferocious. Waters, waters and waters gushing in thousands of liters in one go was enthralling and fierce at the same time.

For second point one has to descend down on the slippery steps to a viewing gallery. I had to take help of Shubha my wife; maybe we were holding the hands, eons after ‘Saat Feras’ in the wedding!  It again unfolded a view straight out of National Geographic. Two cliffs of canyon on the both side and Zambezi River in its fearsome avatar of Devil’s cataract at the center! As we followed the trail the splash of water became denser and denser. As the water hits the base with force it sends out water droplets in upward direction.

Spindrift, the splash of spray was so heavy that it almost amounted to incessant rains!  We were given raincoats no doubt but the downpour was so heavy that it did not help much. We were drenched to the core. Plus the water in the shoes!!

As we started the trail, the viewpoints really offered view of fall from different angles. Initially the mist was thin so one could see the cascades after cascades of roaring water gushing down with great thrust. By the time we reached the main fall this spindrift made such a thick veil of water that the fall was not visible at all. The last point is appropriately called as danger point. It’s on a narrow pinnacle from where one can have good view of the fall in its entirety. It was so slippery due to continuous splashes that I could not reach it without the help. Uday tried to help me but even then I lost the balance and was going to have another fracture. Timely catch by Uday prevented me from falling flat!

The façade of falls changes according to the volume of water. In dry season the topography of falls is appreciated better with each gorge presenting its form distinctly. And one can reach the base rather easily. It looks like the picture above known as boiling pot!  May be we were unfortunate, even though the season was appropriate according to the brochures water was in so much tremendous volume that the entire view of the falls could not be visualized!

We walked down to Zambezi Bridge that connects both Zambia and Zimbabwe by road and rail. The gorge below is site for water sports, river rafting while the bridge itself is the platform for bungee jumping. We could not be game for both, obviously!

Wild life around the falls is vibrant too. Though we did not see any of big four we saw few Mongooses! Back in the hotel after lunch at Gujrati inn, I was so tired that I immersed myself in tub full of waters (again!) this time soothingly warm!

I feel one has to have his own philosophy of life, if one does not have he has to make it. So I skipped the lecture by fellow member. ‘Manki Baat’ and stretched on the bed to have nice slumber!

After nice dinner it was time to hit the bed as again the next morning we were to catch a flight to Cape Town!