What makes it special
The Zambezi arrives without warning. It has run wide and slow across a flat sheet of Jurassic basalt, braided around islands and palms, and then the whole river drops off a straight lip 1,708 metres across into a chasm reaching 108 metres at its deepest. Nothing else puts this much water over a single unbroken edge: this is the largest sheet of falling water in the world, and in flood the spray climbs over 400 metres and is visible 50 kilometres away.
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By air. Victoria Falls International (VFA) is 18 kilometres south of the town and was rebuilt under a US$150 million programme that lifted capacity from 500,000 to 1.7 million passengers a year. It takes Airlink, South African Airways, FlySafair and CemAir from Johannesburg and Cape Town, Kenya Airways from Nairobi, Ethiopian from Addis Ababa, and regional services to Hwange, Kariba, Maun and Windhoek. Harry Mwanga Nkumbula International (LVI), 5 kilometres from Livingstone and rebuilt between 2011 and 2017, takes Airlink, Proflight and CemAir from Johannesburg and Lusaka. VFA has more choice by some margin.
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February to May — full flood, and the paradox. The river peaks in April and the falls become one continuous wall of water. It is the most impressive the place ever is, and from the ground the hardest to see: the face disappears into its own mist and guests are soaked walking the rainforest path. Budget the Flight of Angels helicopter in these months rather than treating it as an upsell, and issue rain gear and a dry bag for cameras. Devil's Pool is closed and rafting runs the high-water section only.
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