The Travel Essay

People have, for many years, been fascinated with Africa. They discovered minerals, gems and all manner of riches in this great continent. Explorers came in waves, many dying of fever and other calamities. Some survived, some went on to become famous and others made it their home.

The Scottish explorer, Dr David Livingstone, was one of the famous travellers. In 1855, in his journeys, he came upon a massive waterfall on the Zambezi River. He named this the Victoria Falls in honour of Queen Victoria of England. Dr Livingstone was a medical doctor and a missionary. He travelled through much of southern Africa converting tribes to Christianity and tending to the ill.

Near the falls, there were villages and tribes with their different chiefs. The first village that Dr Livingstone went to was some distance away from the river. When he arrived there, he was told to wait under a shady tree. The custom in the village was not to allow strangers into the chief’s compound. Drums were sounded and, in a solemn procession, the chief came out of his compound with warriors carrying spears and shields. Dr Livingstone and the chief met under the flamboyant tree where he had been kept waiting. In memory of that visit, the tree still stands in that village and the people gather underneath it every day to enjoy the shade and to while away the time.

Further up the river, there are ferries that ply the waters. They are used by people working in the nearby hotels. The ferries call at piers along the banks of this majestic river where small villages are nestled. There is a strong current under the waters although the surface appears calm. The river is also wide and deep, with hippos and crocodiles lurking in the shallower parts. As the waters circumnavigate a wide bend, the rising mists of the falls can be seen from a long distance away. There is an excited anticipation of what is in that misty cloud.

The Victoria Falls can be heard well before it is seen and what a sight it is to behold when you come upon it. The mighty Zambezi River which starts as a small stream in a distant part of Angola flows through Zambia and discharges its waters in a massive torrent across the falls. The plummeting waters splash onto rocks along the edges and the bottom, leaving a spray which can be seen some three miles away. There is a thundering sound of the water cascading across the edge and into the gorge. The spray covers the vegetation on the opposite side of the falls, keeping it a constant green even in the dry season. As the sun’s rays pierce the watery mist, a rainbow is thrown across the gorge. Sometimes there are two rainbows in parallel. The view is spectacular, and the feeling is one of being with nature.

Half of the falls are in Zambia and the other half in Zimbabwe. The powerful current of waters cascades into a deep gorge some 110 metres below the top and then flows on through Zimbabwe and Zambia into the great Kariba Lake. From there it flows through the Cabora Bassa Lake and finally reaches the sea at Chinde in Mozambique. It would have flowed through 3,540 kilometres by the time the waters finish the journey.

For the local people, the falls have always been theirs. They have heard its thunder and seen its spray. From a distance the mist appears as smoke. Thunder and smoke, that’s how they see it and that’s how they know it. For them it is Mosi-oa-Tunya, the smoke that thunders. If you stand in the distance and watch, you will know that they are right.