Zimbabwe's Victoria Falls: A Self-Guided Rainforest Walk

(1 review)

Victoria Falls audio tour: Zimbabwe's Victoria Falls: A Self-Guided Rainforest Walk

This is a 1.8mi walking tour

It takes an average of 120 mins to complete.

Victoria Falls

Zimbabwe

$7.99

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About the Tour

As soon as you set eyes on Victoria Falls, you’ll understand why it’s known locally as “The Smoke that Thunders.“ On this walking tour of Zimbabwe’s Victoria Falls National Park, you’ll journey through a unique rainforest ecosystem that’s created by the eternal spray of the world’s most spectacular waterfall.

The tour starts at the Ilala Lodge Hotel, from where you’ll take a gentle walk to the falls’ entrance. Your path winds along the edge of a mile-long chasm directly opposite the bellowing curtain of water, offering uninterrupted views from several viewing platforms. As you stroll through the lush rainforest, you’ll hear fascinating tales about early explorers like David Livingstone who first brought these falls to the world’s attention, and daring engineers who constructed the famous bridge spanning the gorge below.

On your way to the falls’ precipice, you’ll learn about the bitter controversy surrounding the construction of the Victoria Falls Bridge in 1905. You’ll also witness the mighty Zambezi River below, which spans over a mile wide above the falls and suddenly vanishes into a narrow gorge just 80 feet across. The tour ends with a spectacular view of the Zambezi Bridge and the swirling waters of the Boiling Pot far below.

Along the way, you’ll have a chance to:

Stand before the Livingstone statue overlooking Devil’s Cataract, where the explorer’s favorite Bible verse is marked by his finger
Experience the intensity of the Main Falls, where the roar reaches 85 decibels and spray soaks visitors during the high-water season
Spot bushbuck and trumpeter hornbills within this rainforest that’s sustained entirely by waterfall spray
Gaze across to Livingstone Island, where David Livingstone first viewed the falls in November 1855
Marvel at Rainbow Falls’ 108-meter drop – the highest point along the mile-long precipice
Discover how the falls have been transformed from a remote wonder to a world-famous destination that still maintains its awe-inspiring power

By the end of this 120-minute walk, you’ll have experienced what Lord George Curzon described as “towers of descending foam, the shouting face of the cataract, and the thunder of the watery phalanxes.“

Please note: this tour does not include entrance to the National Park.

Tour Producer

Jonathan Waters

3 tours

Jonathan Waters is a historian and author of nearly a dozen books focusing on central Africa, that include Harare: Urban Evolution (published in 2015), Kariba: Legacy of a Vision (2020), Tree Tales of Zimbabwe (2021), A Glass Half Full (2022), which is a history of Zimbabwe’s wine industry, Cheers: A History of Beer in Zimbabwe (2023), Victoria Falls: The Grandest View of God’s Earth (2023), Thomas Baines: The Victoria Falls. A Million Beauties (2024) and Tree Tales of Zimbabwe Volume II (2024). He was born in Harare in 1969 and attended Blakiston and Prince Edward schools. He went to Rhodes University, where he read for a BA in Journalism and Economics. After various stints in journalism around the world, he returned to Zimbabwe in 2001. Other interests include genealogical research, historical maps, rock art, and the Portuguese in south-east Africa in the 16th and 17th centuries. See www.newzanj.com

Preview Location

Location 3

An eternal rainbow

Stay to the right here as the road forks, and continue along the path.

Of the plume, Livingstone said: “I have mentioned that we saw five columns of vapour ascending from this strange abyss. They are evidently formed by the compression suffered by the force of the water’s o... Stay to the right here as the road forks, and continue along the path.

Of the plume, Livingstone said: “I have mentioned that we saw five columns of vapour ascending from this strange abyss. They are evidently formed by the compression suffered by the force of the water’s own fall, into an unyielding wedged-shaped space. Of the five columns, two on the right and one on the left of the island were the largest, and the streams which formed them seemed each to exceed in size the falls of Clyde at Stonebyres, when that river is in flood.”

It took another five years before the next visitor appeared – William Charles Baldwin. He travelled to the Falls on his own, arriving in August 1860 a few days before Livingstone appeared on his second trip, having travelled this time from the east with his brother Charles and Dr John Kirk. Baldwin said: “I heard the roar a full ten miles off, and you can see the immense volumes of spray ascending like a great white cloud, over which shines an eternal rainbow. The whole volume of water pours over a huge rock into an enormous chasm below, of immense depth.”

Two years later they were followed by the artist Thomas Baines and hunter James Chapman, who both wrote excellent accounts of their travels, having approached the Falls from the south, the direction we are coming from now. Arriving in late July 1862, Baines made many sketches of the Falls over their 12-day trip, and painted a huge portfolio in the years that followed, selling them to fund his travels. These beautiful paintings are held in collections all over the world and here on your screen you will see one of his famous paintings of the approach.

We’ll talk more about Baines later on, but here is Chapman ruing over the fact that he may have been the first European to view the Falls if he had persisted a few years earlier: “Here the panorama first broke upon us in all its grandeur, and I could not avoid the reflection that, could I have known of the magnificent sight I lost in August 1853 after being very near to it, and how I nearly forestalled Dr Livingstone’s discovery, I should certainly have made another effort at that time to accomplish the object.”

Here is the German explorer Eduard Mohr, who is credited with being the first to use the term ‘rainforest’, the area into which you will shortly be going into, on his approach in June 1876: “On the evening of the 28th of June I noticed on the north-north-west, far above a vast green and apparently endless forest, some white cloud-masses, which ascended continuously in the form of four or five columns from the same spot without any change in appearance, in spite of the dead calm which prevailed every now and then. This phenomenon was more striking, as the vast blue firmament, like a huge glass cupola, was unbroken by even the tiniest cloud as far as the eye could reach. When I pointed this singular appearance out to my guide Masupasila, he said it was the Simpoma (waterfall), and never as long as my pulses beat shall I forget that moment.”

And just one more from Frank Sykes, the first conservator at the Falls, who arrived after 16 days travel in May 1901: “After days of weary monotony through a country of burnt veld, arid rocks, and hot sand with watering-places at long intervals, perhaps the wanton wealth of water, the glory of the evergreen foliage, this superb picture of rainbows hovering over snow white cascades, this miracle of immensity and depth, the grand diapason accompaniment surging upwards into a very atmosphere of sound – perhaps, but contrast with what had gone before, these were accentuated. Be this as it may, nothing in life can ever obliterate the memory of what seemed to be a revelation of all that was beautiful and sublime.”

Keep going. The path will lead you to train tracks just ahead. Read More

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Major Landmarks

Ilala Lodge Hotel
Victoria Falls, Water Fall, Rain Forest Main Entrance
David Livingstone Statue
Devil's Cataract
Cataract Island
Victoria Falls

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Getting There

Route Overview

VoiceMap tours follow a route from a set starting point. It’s how we give turn-by-turn directions and tell a story greater than the sum of its parts.

Start location
A8, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe
Total distance

3km
Final location
Zimbabwe Africa, Livingstone Way, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe
Distance back to start location

2km

Directions to Starting Point

The tour starts outside the Ilala Hotel Lodge, A8, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe.

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Tips

Places to stop along the way

Have a coffee or breakfast either at the Rainforest Cafe at the end of the tour, or pop into Ilala Lodge Hotel for a coffee after the circuit.

Best time of day

The best time is when the park opens in the morning, usually around 06.30hrs in winter (May to August) and 06.00 in the summer months. This way you will avoid the flood of tourists later in the day, and get a dawn view across the Falls. The alternative is late afternoon. Rainbows are at their best when the sun is higher.

Precautions

Watch out for wild animals. Do not try and feed them. Follow what the locals do.

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App Store Review

“Great app. walk around at your own pace, stop where you want, move on or speed up when you want. Read the script before you go or during the commentary, speed it up or replay it. Repeat the tour whenever you like.”

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Last Updated

8 May 2025

Questions and Reviews

5 / 5

1 Ratings

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