Our first lodge in Botswana was only a 20 minute drive from the border with Zimbabwe, one hour from Victoria Falls. The border crossing is very close to the world’s only quadripoint where Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Zambia all meet – some locals refer to it as BoNaZaZi. We could see Namibia from our lodge and during our trip to Victoria Falls we walked across the bridge to Zambia. This could be done on a “day pass” used by locals for shopping/trade and tourists to avoid the need to pay for a second Zimbabwe visa.
The first European to discover the falls was Doctor David Livingstone who first saw the falls on 16 November 1855. He named it in honour of Queen Victoria, its local name being Mosi-oa-Tunya – the smoke that thunders. It sits between Zimbabwe and Zambia on the Zambezi River and is classified as the worlds largest falls, based on combined width (1,708 m) and height (108 m), with other falls claiming the spot based on different combinations of measures ! The volume of water varies considerably by time of year; when we visited it was considered around a mid point.
As part of the grand, but unfulffilled, vision of Cecil Rhodes to build a railway from Cape Town to Cairo a bridge was built over the outlet gorge of the falls. The bridge was prefabricated in Darlington and completed on site in 1905. It consists of a single lane road, railway and two footpaths and has only ever needed minor repairs and painting since its construction.
Shilli-Fully Travels 