zambia: mosi-oa-tunya falls
the 19th century british explorers were an incredibly hardy lot. braving sickness, hostile natives, dangerous animals, swamps, rivers, forests, they went well off the trodden path. but for their many abilities, they were sadly lacking in one key area - imagination in naming places.
local: 'let me show you the most amazing thing you have ever seen in your life.'
livingstone: 'i say old chap. that is mind-blowing. i am so mind-blown, i shall name it......victoria falls.'
local: 'let me show you the largest lake you have ever seen.'
john speke: 'jolly good show. that is utterly incredible. so incredible, in fact, i shall name it.....lake victoria.'
i am detecting a pattern here...but i digress.
in actual fact, the locals had a perfectly good name for the falls. mosi-oa-tunya, meaning, the smoke that thunders. actually that's more than a good name, that is an undeniably cool, and very very apt name.
sometimes, famous places are hyped up so much that the reality can't quite live up to the hype. in my mind, this is what i had expected of the falls. but in the case of mosi-oa-tunya, it is just not possible to hype it up too much. the falls send up a sheet of rain that goes straight up maybe 500m. the falls themselves are 108m in height. its hard to describe in words, but look closely at the picture above and you will notice these fellows....
mosi-oa-tunya falls are not the widest, or the tallest falls in the world. however, because they are both very wide (1.7km, about 1 mile) and tall (108m, 360ft) they have the 'largest curtain of falling water in the world.' the flow varies considerably between the rainy season and the dry season but the highest recorded flow was 12,800 tonnes of water. not per day, or per hour, but per second. i can't even comprehend that amount, and i saw it.
sorry about the rubbish picture above - i plead extenuating circumstances. you can vaguely see the falls in the background. the noise and the water pouring down (or, more precisely, pouring up) from the falls was overpowering. so i was trying to keep my camera wrapped up in plastic and still get a few shots!
a short distance back from the falls, there is a beautiful hike through lush green forest that takes you from the upper level of the zambezi river down to the bottom of the falls. if you ever come to see the falls, make sure you do it (even though its very steep).
it is really very pretty, and there is a tiny little riverlet that gushes along next to the trail.
at the very bottom you pop out of the forest at the rivers edge and a huge swirling pool named the 'boiling pot' (yes, alan and dawn, we did go down!) you can see bungee jumpers jumping off the bridge in the background.
my only regret about coming to the falls was that i spent 1$ on the plastic raincoat that you see in the pic above. what a waste of money - after about 10 seconds near the falls i was soaked to the bone.
after a hike back up the hill (whew! a lot tougher than going down!) we were treated to a beautiful sunset - now we are on the falls side looking down at the river flowing inexorably over the edge.
it really was an amazing end to a beautiful day. jehovah's creation has a way of serving us with endless wonders and exquisite pleasures.
even the nomenclature-stunted david livingstone waxed lyrical on viewing the falls:
"No one can imagine the beauty of the view from anything witnessed in England. It had never been seen before by European eyes; but scenes so lovely must have been gazed upon by angels in their flight."
local: 'let me show you the most amazing thing you have ever seen in your life.'
livingstone: 'i say old chap. that is mind-blowing. i am so mind-blown, i shall name it......victoria falls.'
local: 'let me show you the largest lake you have ever seen.'
john speke: 'jolly good show. that is utterly incredible. so incredible, in fact, i shall name it.....lake victoria.'
i am detecting a pattern here...but i digress.
in actual fact, the locals had a perfectly good name for the falls. mosi-oa-tunya, meaning, the smoke that thunders. actually that's more than a good name, that is an undeniably cool, and very very apt name.
sometimes, famous places are hyped up so much that the reality can't quite live up to the hype. in my mind, this is what i had expected of the falls. but in the case of mosi-oa-tunya, it is just not possible to hype it up too much. the falls send up a sheet of rain that goes straight up maybe 500m. the falls themselves are 108m in height. its hard to describe in words, but look closely at the picture above and you will notice these fellows....
mosi-oa-tunya falls are not the widest, or the tallest falls in the world. however, because they are both very wide (1.7km, about 1 mile) and tall (108m, 360ft) they have the 'largest curtain of falling water in the world.' the flow varies considerably between the rainy season and the dry season but the highest recorded flow was 12,800 tonnes of water. not per day, or per hour, but per second. i can't even comprehend that amount, and i saw it.
sorry about the rubbish picture above - i plead extenuating circumstances. you can vaguely see the falls in the background. the noise and the water pouring down (or, more precisely, pouring up) from the falls was overpowering. so i was trying to keep my camera wrapped up in plastic and still get a few shots!
a short distance back from the falls, there is a beautiful hike through lush green forest that takes you from the upper level of the zambezi river down to the bottom of the falls. if you ever come to see the falls, make sure you do it (even though its very steep).
it is really very pretty, and there is a tiny little riverlet that gushes along next to the trail.
at the very bottom you pop out of the forest at the rivers edge and a huge swirling pool named the 'boiling pot' (yes, alan and dawn, we did go down!) you can see bungee jumpers jumping off the bridge in the background.
my only regret about coming to the falls was that i spent 1$ on the plastic raincoat that you see in the pic above. what a waste of money - after about 10 seconds near the falls i was soaked to the bone.
after a hike back up the hill (whew! a lot tougher than going down!) we were treated to a beautiful sunset - now we are on the falls side looking down at the river flowing inexorably over the edge.
it really was an amazing end to a beautiful day. jehovah's creation has a way of serving us with endless wonders and exquisite pleasures.
even the nomenclature-stunted david livingstone waxed lyrical on viewing the falls:
"No one can imagine the beauty of the view from anything witnessed in England. It had never been seen before by European eyes; but scenes so lovely must have been gazed upon by angels in their flight."
