Back to stories
Places & Journeys

Victoria Falls: the river and the gorges

Follow the Zambezi into the basalt gorges of a World Heritage landscape shared by Zimbabwe and Zambia.

Victoria Falls spilling into a tree-lined gorge beneath a blue sky
Contextual photograph: Ian Mackey / Unsplash. Used under the Unsplash licence. No interview or documented event is implied.

An original summary of the sources below, not original field reporting. Contributor and cultural review are pending.

Water gives the landscape its shape.

Where the Zambezi reaches Mosi-oa-Tunya / Victoria Falls, UNESCO describes a river more than two kilometres wide. Water plunges into basalt gorges, raising spray and mist. The falls are part of a World Heritage property shared by Zimbabwe and Zambia.

The familiar view is only one part of that geography. The river’s passage through a series of gorges connects the spectacle of falling water with the rock formations beneath it. UNESCO reports that the mist can be seen from more than twenty kilometres away.

This account follows the physical landscape documented by the World Heritage Centre. It makes no claim to represent the experiences or beliefs of the people who live nearby. Their perspectives would add another, distinct layer to the story.

Sources

The story continues.

Our publication will grow through consent-based reporting and contributions from people with relevant knowledge and lived experience.

Our editorial principles →