Victoria Falls: the Falls from Both Sides, the Zambezi and Chobe

1. Jour 1 : Arrive in Victoria Falls

   Victoria Falls International Airport to Victoria Falls town

   • Environ 30 min de route
   • Repas du soir
   • Nuit : Victoria Falls
   Détail du jour 1

   Fly into Victoria Falls International Airport, about 20 km south of town; most flights come in from Johannesburg around midday. A driver meets you after immigration, where you buy your Zimbabwe visa if you do not already have one, and the drive in takes about half an hour through mopane woodland. Our hotel is central, within walking distance of the Rainforest gate and the town's shops, with a pool for the heat. In the wetter months you can see the column of spray above the trees from town, which is where the local name, Mosi-oa-Tunya, the Smoke that Thunders, comes from. At about 5 pm your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a briefing on the next three days: the early Rainforest walk, the borders on the Chobe and Zambia days, what to bring for the spray and which visa covers it all. Then we walk to a restaurant in town for the welcome dinner.

   Compris

   • Pick-up at Victoria Falls International Airport (VFA)
   • Welcome briefing with your guide
   • Welcome dinner in town

   Temps libre : Free until the 5 pm briefing

   Activité : Plan to land by about 3 pm to make the briefing; later arrivals are met, join the dinner if they can and are briefed over breakfast.

2. Jour 2 : The Rainforest at opening and a Zambezi sunset

   Victoria Falls Rainforest on the Zimbabwe side, then the upper Zambezi by boat

   • Environ 30 min de route
   • Petit-déjeuner
   • Nuit : Victoria Falls
   Détail du jour 2

   The Rainforest gate opens at about 6 am, and we walk in at about 7 with a licensed local guide, while the path is quiet and the low sun throws rainbows into the spray. The Falls are about 1.7 km wide and drop up to 108 m into a narrow chasm, and from the Zimbabwe side you look straight across at most of that face. The path runs through forest kept green by the spray, past about sixteen viewpoints, from the statue of David Livingstone at Devil's Cataract past the Main Falls to Danger Point, where you look along the gorge to the Victoria Falls Bridge. Your guide explains how the river cut the zigzag of gorges below, one fault line at a time. We are back by late morning, and the afternoon is free. At about 4 pm we board a boat on the Zambezi upstream of the Falls for a cruise of about two hours with drinks and snacks, watching for hippos, crocodiles and elephants along the islands as the sun goes down.

   Compris

   • Victoria Falls Rainforest at opening with a licensed guide, entry included
   • Zambezi sunset cruise with drinks and snacks, park fee included

   Activités en option

   • A helicopter flight over the Falls (about 12 to 15 minutes), booked by your guide
   • The Victoria Falls Bridge tour

   Option plus facile : Walk only to the first viewpoints, at Devil's Cataract and the Main Falls, about an hour, and wait for the group at the café by the gate.

   Option plus active : In the free afternoon, walk with your guide down into the Batoka Gorge on a steep path to the Boiling Pot, where the river turns below the Falls.

   Temps libre : Afternoon free until the cruise; evening free

   Activité : About 2 to 3 hours on foot on a level path with some steps, slippery in the spray. From about February to June you will get wet; a rain jacket and a waterproof bag for your phone help.

   

3. Jour 3 : A Chobe day trip into Botswana

   Victoria Falls to the Kazungula border and Kasane, then Chobe National Park and back

   • Environ 3 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Victoria Falls
   Détail du jour 3

   We leave at about 7 am, the earliest start of the trip, and drive about 80 km west through mopane woodland, where elephants sometimes cross, to the Kazungula border. Your guide steers the group through leaving Zimbabwe and entering Botswana, and allows up to an hour for it. In Kasane we board a boat on the Chobe River inside Chobe National Park, Botswana's first national park, for a morning on the water. From the boat the river edge is the show: hippos in the shallows, crocodiles on the sandbanks, buffalo on the floodplain and, in the dry months from about June to October, elephant herds coming down to drink and swim. Lunch is a sit-down meal in Kasane. In the afternoon an open safari vehicle takes us along the Chobe riverfront track for a game drive, with stops wherever the animals are; lions and leopards are seen here, though never promised. We cross back into Zimbabwe and reach Victoria Falls by about 6:30 pm for the farewell dinner in town.

   Compris

   • Return transfer to Kasane, Botswana, with border assistance
   • Morning boat on the Chobe River
   • Lunch in Kasane
   • Afternoon game drive on the Chobe riverfront
   • Chobe National Park fees
   • Farewell dinner in Victoria Falls

   Option plus facile : Stay in Victoria Falls: a free day at the hotel pool, the craft market or the Victoria Falls Bridge, and join the group at the farewell dinner.

   Activité : A long day but a seated one, about 3 hours on the road in all including both border posts. You need a visa that lets you re-enter Zimbabwe; we confirm which when you book.

   

4. Jour 4 : Across the bridge to the Zambia side and depart

   Victoria Falls across the Victoria Falls Bridge to the Zambia side and Livingstone Island, then the airport

   • Environ 1.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner
   Détail du jour 4

   After breakfast we drive to the Zimbabwe border post, about 1 km from town, and walk across the Victoria Falls Bridge, built in 1905, stopping in the middle to look down into the gorge and back at the Falls. Past the Zambian border post a licensed guide meets us at Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park. The Zambia side is closer to the water: the path crosses the Knife-Edge Bridge facing the Eastern Cataract, and in the high-water months the spray drenches it. When the river is low enough, usually from about July to mid-January, a boat takes the group to Livingstone Island at the lip of the Falls, where David Livingstone first saw them in 1855, for a morning session with breakfast; from about mid-August, when the water is low, you can also swim at Devil's Pool on the edge. Out of season, or if the borders run slow, we drop the island and spend longer on the Zambia paths. By about 1 pm we are on the road to the airport: back across the bridge to Victoria Falls International Airport, or a short drive to Livingstone's airport if you fly out from Zambia.

   Compris

   • Walk across the Victoria Falls Bridge with border assistance
   • The Zambia side of the Falls with a licensed guide, entry included
   • Livingstone Island by boat when the river allows, usually July to mid-January; dropped if the borders run slow
   • Drop-off at Victoria Falls International Airport (VFA) or Livingstone (LVI)

   Option plus facile : Skip the island and Devil's Pool and walk the Zambia viewpoints at your own pace, then wait at the café by the Zambia gate.

   Option plus active : Swim at Devil's Pool on the lip of the Falls with the island operator's guides, when the water is low enough (usually about mid-August to mid-January).

   Activité : Book flights leaving after about 3 pm from VFA or LVI; allow two hours at the airport. If you want to stay on at the Falls, ask us for extra nights when you book.

   

Faune et météo : The Falls change with the Zambezi. From about February to June the river is high: the curtain of water is at its fullest and the spray rises hundreds of metres, often soaking you and hiding the gorge, and Livingstone Island is closed. From about July to September the view is clearer, days are dry and mild, and the island is open. From October to December the water is low and the Eastern Cataract on the Zambia side can run nearly dry, while the Zimbabwe side keeps water all year; days are hot, often above 30°C, until the rains begin. At Chobe, the dry months from about June to October bring the largest elephant herds to the river. January is wet and we do not run it.

• Victoria Falls3 nuits