Living on the edge of Victoria Falls

One of the highlights of the recent Southern Africa Adventure I hosted was hanging over the edge of one of the largest waterfalls in the world – Victoria Falls. The falls are on the border of Zimbabwe and Zambia. Most people view the falls from various points along a walkway on the Zimbabwe side. However,  for the adventurous, a short trip over to the Zambia side of the falls allows you to experience the adrenaline rush of “Devil’s Pool.”

When the group arrived at Zimbabwe airport, we opted for the KAZA visa for $50 USD, a partnership between Zimbabwe and Zambia to allow tourists “to visit both countries multiple times”. We stayed on the Zimbabwe side at Victoria Falls Safari Lodge. It’s a very nice authentic full-service lodge with a big watering hole for wildlife; we saw elephants, giraffes, and buffalo from our rooms, the pool, and restaurant during our two-night stay.

From the Zimbabwe side you can view the glorious Victoria Falls from several viewing platforms along a paved walkway…roughly about one mile long. The waterfalls themselves are the longest curtain of water in the world, spanning 5,604 feet across. 10 million liters of water rush over the falls each second!

Victoria Falls is a real feast for the eyes to behold from the Zimbabwe side. However, we were all there to test our fate at the Devil’s Pool and so it was a short drive with some border crossing procedures over to the Zambia side of the falls where we met our guides at the Livingstone Island Launch site to take us by speedboat over to the island. We then took a short swim over to the staging area, a deep natural pool of water at the edge of the falls. The excitement and anticipation from the group was sky high; we were all definitely pumped up and ready for this extraordinary experience of a lifetime.

After some pictures together sitting on the edge of the falls, it was time for each of us to hang solo over the edge one at a time. We cheered each other on as each of us got our turn. We even noticed a group of people across the falls on the Zimbabwe side waving their arms and rooting us on. When it was my turn to go, the guide held my feet as I inched out to the edge. It was amazing! A rainbow had formed through all the mist, and I hammed it up for the camera. (Another guide was to the side of all the activity, standing at the edge of the falls on a rock platform with our phones taking pics and videos.)

It was a perfect day with a perfect group of people to experience this once-in-a-lifetime adventure activity in the ultimate infinity pool!