Victoria Falls Zimbabwe

Victoria Falls can be viewed from both the Zambia and Zimbabwe side of the Zambezi River. There is a debate about which side of the river is best to view the waterfall. While I was in the locality I wanted to visit both side to see the waterfall completely. Courtney had previously seen it in the low water season three years ago but was interested in visiting it again during May's high water season.

We got a taxi from Victoria Falls Waterfront lodge to the Zambia border and got our exit stamp out of Zambia. We walked over the bridge into Zimbabwe. From online research there was a conflict of information regarding the price of the Zimbabwe visa for an Irish citizen. Some official website said we didn't need one while other websites said I did and it would cost $30. Both websites were incorrect. Courtney got her visa for $30 as she is traveling on an Australia passport however my visa turned out to be $55. I was a little bit surprised but wasn't going challenge the officer on it. Once we got our Zimbabwe stamp we walked to the entrance of Zimbabwe's Mosi-Oa-Tunya National Park. Crispen had told us the entrance fee to the park was $30 but it actually was $50. Nevertheless as I was in Zimbabwe I had to pay the fee as I wasn't going to turn around now.

Once in the park we walked around for about two hours seeing the waterfall. The view of the waterfall was slightly more distant than the Zambia side however there was still a lot of water spray from the falls which made it difficult to see the scale of the waterfall. At times it reminded me of being at the Cliffs of Moher with the rain battering in from the coast however at Victoria Falls you could take a step or two backwards out of the water and the sun would be shining down again.

Courtney and myself came to the conclusion that in high water season the Zambia side is better as you are closer to the waterfall to get wet however in low water season Courtney said the Zimbabwe side was better as you don't get wet much but you get to see the scale of the waterfall. I would like to come back during low water season to see Victoria Falls and compare for myself the difference. One disappointment was that Devil's Pit swimming area was closed because the water was too high so I would like to swim there too.

After our visit at the Mosi-Oa-Tunya National Park we met the American couple, Karen and Craig at the local market. We spent a little time trying to haggle items without much success before we crossed back over to the Zambia side to complete our short but sweet visit to Zimbabwe.Read more