Tourism and Environment

‘A tourist’s guide’: Top 10 things to do in Victoria Falls

Published

4 years ago

June 8, 2022

MUNICH – If you are ending up on the Zimbabwean side of the Victoria Falls after a mobile camping safari like we did, or happen to be there for some other reason, the area has great potential for exceptionally fun things to do.

It’s definitely worth spending more time there than just a one-day-trip to see the waterfalls.

Here is our personal shortlist of the 10 Top things to do in Victoria Falls – all tried and tested by ourselves in 2022!

1 Visit Victoria Falls National Park

First it needs to be mentioned that 75 percent of the Falls are viewable from Zimbabwe and 25% form Zambia. Some people say that seeing the Falls from both sides is a must.

Since we stayed in Victoria Falls throughout, it made sense to visit the falls from there. This way we also saved the additional costs for the ,,day-tripper-visa” for Zambia (see here for the current visa requirements and costs: https://www.victoriafalls-guide.net/zambia-visa.html ) and the additional entrance fees for the national park on the Zambian side (see here for the entrance fees of both national parks: https://www.victoriafalls-guide.net/victoria-falls-entrance.html ).

To admire Victoria Falls in their full size, you first have to enter Victoria Falls National Park and then take a short stroll towards them.

There is a variety of walkways to choose from, each leading to different view points.

Depending on the season and thus the amount of water thundering over the cliffs, your own dry or wet condition also varies along the paths.

Ours looked roughly like this: from still dry to light spray to heavy rains and in the end completely soaked.

Which was a lot of fun, but you should make sure that your mobile phone, camera and important documents are either waterproof or packed away in a watertight container.

Our guide put all our stuff in a rubbish bag for the purpose, which worked perfectly well.

2 Take a helicopter ride to see the waterfalls from above

Not the cheapest activity for sure, but absolutely worth it.

From this perspective, you can see how the Falls and the adjoining gorge blend into the landscape, and it is only then that you really become aware of their whole magnitude.

Some personal advice: most operators offer scenic flights of varying lengths and prices.

You can normally choose between 15 and 30 minutes of flight time, which corresponds to a price difference from 150 to almost 300 US dollars.

The longer flights include a larger part of the Zambezi and the National Park.

However, all the interesting stuff can also be seen on the short flight, including the best photo opportunities.

Additionally: despite having been on helicopter flights before with no trouble at all, me and all the other passengers were a bit travel sick after this one.

This was because the pilot did multiple tight turns, making sure all the guests got a good view of the falls from their seats and people were constantly looking down, usually through their camera lenses.

So you might be just happy to get off again after 15 minutes.

3 Ride a jetboat through the gorge to the waterfalls

An absolutely thrilling adventure and most certainly the only way of getting close to the point where the waterfalls,hit the ground.

Modern jetboats were originally invented in New Zealand where tourists can go on a ride on multiple rivers nowadays.

Therefore, we have been pleasantly surprised to find out that one tour operator in Victoria Falls does offer a wild ride on a 465 horsepower, specially-made Adventure Jetboat (https://www.shearwatervictoriafalls.com/experience/jetboat-experience/)

This trip is taking you up and down the rapids in the Batoka gorge at a very high speed and right into the Boiling Pot of the Falls where you can feel the immense power of the water masses crashing down from above – a proper shower in their spray included.

Depending on season and water levels, you will be able to do more or less rapids along the way.

As we’ve been there in March with the water levels almost at their highest, we were able to only go over two rapids.

But those two and the captain were wild enough to make this the craziest jetboat ride we have ever been on.

A few things you should be aware of:

The boat might not operate due to very high or very low water levels in April/May and October/November
You must be fit enough to walk in and out of the gorge. The walk is steep, leading down and up over more than 150 iron steps and some rocky parts and there is no other way to get in or out
Be prepared for some violent bumps when going over the rapids. People with back problems should not hide them from the crew for their own safety, so that the right place in the boat can be chosen for them

4 Go on a chilled-out sunset river cruise on the Zambezi

When it comes to relax and unwind, a sunset river cruise on the Zambezi is definitely what you should aim for.

The most stress about this might be deciding which of the many companies and which package to choose. In case you are having a personal guide with you, like we did with Pierre from African Safari Experts, they will surely pick out the best options for you.

If you are travelling independently, we found this article very helpful to get a first overview: https://www.victoriafalls-guide.net/victoria-falls-sunset-cruise.html

5 Have a sundowner at the Victoria Falls Safari Lodge

Just outside the city centre of Victoria Falls you can find another splendid spot to immerse yourself in a legendary African sunset with a neat drink in your hand: the Buffalo Bar at the Victoria Falls Safari Lodge (https://victoria-falls-safari-lodge.com/things-to-do/bar-dining/)

What makes this place so very special is the fact that it is situated on a plateau, overlooking the Zambezi National Park and a waterhole nearby frequented by elephants, giraffes and other wild animals.

The Buffalo Bar itself offers casual al fresco dining or drinks. Make sure to bring binoculars and a proper camera!

For a closer encounter with the wildlife, you can also ask the staff to book a professionally guided sit in Siduli Hide, located at the edge of the waterhole.

6 Enjoy a late breakfast and a stunning view at The Lookout Café

Our favourite place for a late breakfast or lunch is by far the Lookout Café. Very conveniently located in the middle of Victoria Falls, you definitely get a meal with a view here.

From the open restaurant, you have a gigantic view into and over the gorge and Victoria Falls Bridge.

Additionally you are not only able to watch the adrenalin junkies rafting through the rapids below or soaring through the air on a wire, but you can book those activities directly on site.

The interior is also worth a look, as the décor has been chosen very carefully and tastefully. The Café offers different dining options as well.

https://www.thelookoutcafe.com/

7 Indulge in a great buffet and traditional show at the Jungle Junction – Victoria Falls Hotel

Victoria Falls Hotel built by the British in 1904, was originally conceived as accommodation for workers on the Cape-to-Cairo railway.

Today it is a famous luxury hotel where you can still feel the distinguished and elegant era to which it was born.

Accordingly, it is expensive to spend the night there.

But if you just want a taste of luxury and history without spending a lot of money, the hotel offers several options.

For example, you can have the famous high tea or a drink on Stanley’s terrace and enjoy another unobstructed buena vista of Victoria Falls Bridge.

The other option is to book yourself a table at the Jungle Junction Dinner where a lavish buffet infused with African flavours is presented as local tribes perform traditional dance and music (https://www.victoriafallshotel.com/jungle-junction).

8 Get up close to crocodiles and snakes at the Crocodile Park Victoria Falls

The Crocodile Park is a nice place to go to with kids, but also interesting for adults to visit.

You get to see crocodiles in all sizes, can feed them and hold a baby croc if you’re lucky.

Really intrepid people can also go at eye level with crocodiles in a diving cage.

Additionally there are lots of snakes from all over the world on display and the park attendants teach you a lot about the animals on their guided tours.(https://www.facebook.com/Crocpark/)

9 Let yourself be guided on a game drive in Zambezi National Park

In general, we would recommend to have an individual tour put together for you by a safari planner for the whole area, including a half-day or full-day excursion into the Zambezi National Park.

In our case, African Safari Expert owner Pierre arranged a personal game drive for us in the Zambezi National Park on which we saw elephants, zebras, kudus, impala and various birds.

The sandy river banks invite you to take a rest with a view of the Zambezi, so don’t forget to pack your picnic.

With a guide at our side, we admittedly felt a bit more relaxed there and could enjoy the excursion to its fullest.

If you are travelling on your own or would like to book a tour spontaneously, there are several options for this on site. (https://www.victoriafalls-guide.net/zambezi-national-park-zimbabwe.html)

10 Do some serious souvenir shopping

Victoria Falls offers lots of different ways to burn money.

One way to make yourself as well as friends and relatives who unfortunately had to stay at home happy, is to purchase all kinds of souvenirs there.

It is also a good way to support local traders and craftsmen who have suffered greatly in the two years of the corona pandemic from having no source of revenue from tourism, which is usually their only livelihood.

The woodcarvings come in all sizes, colours and shapes, so you’re spoilt for choice and it’s definitely worth having a look around.

You can also find stone figures, objects made of beads, art paintings, photo prints plus cards and bookmarks from self-made paper (for which elephant dung is used among other things), supporting the local communities that manufacture them with your purchase.

However, be aware of the street hawkers and don’t let them pester you too much.

Unfortunately some of them often persistently pursue you and try to sell you things. – The Munich Eye

In the community

Hwange West MP demands urgent action after two killed by elephants in Victoria Falls

Published

2 days ago

February 26, 2026

VicFallsLive

BY NOKUTHABA DLAMINI

VICTORIA FALLS – Hwange West legislator Vusumuzi Moyo has called for urgent and decisive intervention to address escalating human-elephant conflict after two people were killed by elephants in Victoria Falls within the space of a week.

Rising on a point of national interest in the National Assembly, Moyo said the recent deaths had left families in mourning and exposed the growing danger faced by communities living near wildlife corridors.

“In closing, Mr Speaker Sir, I want to convey my message to two families within Victoria Falls. This happened within a week. They lost their lives because of this conflict,” Moyo said. “In a space of a week, two families are mourning the loss of their loved ones.”

Victoria Falls and surrounding communities, which border wildlife areas, have in recent years experienced increased incidents of elephants straying into residential areas, destroying crops and infrastructure, and in some cases fatally attacking residents.

Moyo told Parliament that the crisis must no longer be viewed solely as a conservation issue but as a matter of human dignity and national development.

“My issue is not merely about wildlife management. It is about national development, constitutional responsibility and ultimately, protecting human dignity,” he said.

He warned that communities from Kariba to Binga, and in tourism corridors around Victoria Falls, are “under siege” from escalating human-elephant conflict.

“Families are losing crops, infrastructure is being destroyed and tragically, lives continue to be lost. This House cannot ignore the cries of rural citizens who coexist with wildlife every day,” Moyo said.

The Hwange West MP defended previous government decisions to cull elephants in high-conflict zones, arguing that such measures were sometimes necessary to restore ecological balance and protect human life.

“These are not acts of recklessness but acts of necessity because conservation must never come at the expense of human survival,” he said.

While acknowledging the importance of non-lethal measures such as fencing and translocation, Moyo said in some areas those interventions were no longer sufficient on their own.

He urged authorities to urgently implement provisions of the Parks and Wildlife Act, promulgated on 28 November 2025, particularly in communities bordering national parks.

“It is my sincere hope that the implementation of the Parks and Wildlife Act… will be taken to the areas that border within national parks so that people appreciate and that the regulations can be done as fast as possible,” he said.

Moyo stressed that Parliament must strike a balance between conservation and protecting human life.

“The people are not asking Parliament to choose between elephants and human beings. They are asking us to restore the balance,” he said.

The latest fatalities have renewed debate in Victoria Falls over how authorities can better safeguard residents while maintaining Zimbabwe’s strong conservation reputation.

Slider

Hwange lion DNA helps convict poachers for first time

Published

5 days ago

February 23, 2026

VicFallsLive

BY BBC

Lion DNA has been used to successfully prosecute poachers for the first time in the world, it has emerged.

Wildlife crime experts have only just revealed how they were able to identify the individual animal from body parts found in a suspect’s village, as they matched a profile on Zimbabwe’s lion database.

A blood sample had previously been taken from the male lion, which was being tracked by authorities in Hwange National Park – using a radio collar.

Two poachers were convicted for the 2024 incident and sent to prison in what is thought to be the first prosecution of its kind.

The details of the convictions and the role the DNA database played have been previously unknown.

Non-governmental organisation (NGO) Traffic, which works to combat the illegal trade in wildlife, has shared the detail with us.

In May 2024, authorities in Hwange National Park became suspicious after a radio collar worn by a male lion stopped working.

Investigators and police traced its last known position and found a snare with lion fur attached to it.

After collecting forensic evidence they questioned two men in a nearby village and discovered three sacks of meat, 16 lion claws and four teeth. These body parts would later be tested against the database, with the DNA from all matching the profile of that missing lion.

But possessing lion parts is not necessarily a crime in Zimbabwe.

Having them can be explained away as old, traditional ornaments or as coming from an animal that died of natural causes.

This has been an obstacle to prosecutions in the past.

But thanks to a breakthrough in DNA profiling, that’s now changed.

The lab generated a DNA profile from the recovered body parts and compared this to the profile previously generated from a blood sample of the lion with the radio collar.

The two profiles matched and scientists were able to identify the specific missing animal.

Over the last eight years the Victoria Falls Wildlife Trust (VFWT) has received about £250,000 from the People’s Postcode Lottery in the UK to build up the DNA database of lions in Zimbabwe.

The scientist at the trust, who made the discovery, asked to remain anonymous for his own safety, but said:

“Before we had access to this technology, we were only able to do species identification, but sometimes that’s not enough.

“We can essentially match those claws or those products to the lion of interest that we are looking for.”

Within 10 days of the killing, the DNA evidence was presented in court.

Two men pleaded guilty and were given 24 month prison sentences.

The hearing was told the value of the lion was about $20,000.

Richard Scobey, Traffic’s executive director, said “countries now have the forensic capability to bring, solid science-based evidence to court” and that it will have global impact.

This is understood to be the first time that DNA from an individual lion has been identified and used to prosecute poachers.

Professor Rob Ogden has been closely involved in setting up the project and is co- founder of the organisation Trace, which promotes the use of forensic science in wildlife law enforcement.

He says the prosecution gives “a message of hope” and shows what can be done using a combination of training, research and development and forensic casework.

Recent figures suggest an increase in the number of lions being killed for their body parts which are then sold both as cultural objects in Africa and for traditional Chinese medicine.

It is thought the rise may be down to organised crime gangs also involved in the illegal trade in Rhino horn and ivory trafficking.

In Mozambique between 2010 and 2023, 426 lions were killed as a result of contact with humans with a quarter linked to deliberate poaching.

A measure of the scale of the trade is also the number of seizures by the authorities in recent years.

That includes 17 lion skulls found in Lusaka in 2021, reportedly en-route from South Africa, and a 2023 seizure in Maputo of more than 300kg of lion body parts.

Which is why this breakthrough on DNA identification is seen as sending an important message to would-be poachers.

Slider

Nominations open for 2026 Tusk Conservation Awards

Published

1 week ago

February 20, 2026

VicFallsLive

BY WANDILE TSHUMA

Nominations have opened for the 14th edition of the Tusk Conservation Awards, offering global recognition and £225,000 (about UGX 1.1 billion) in grant funding to Africa’s leading conservationists.

The awards, held in partnership with Ninety One, celebrate African-led solutions protecting wildlife, landscapes and livelihoods. Three winners will be selected from hundreds of nominations across the continent and honoured at a ceremony expected to be held in London later this year.

This year’s prize money will be distributed across three categories: £100,000 (UGX 480 million) for the Prince William Award, £75,000 (UGX 360 million) for the Tusk Award, and £50,000 (UGX 240 million) for the Tusk Wildlife Ranger Award.

Speaking at last year’s awards, Tusk’s Royal Patron, Prince William, said communities and local conservation leaders often provide the most practical solutions to sustaining biodiversity and natural landscapes.

“It is so often communities and local conservation leaders who provide the practical solutions to how we can best sustain our precious natural landscapes and vital biodiversity,” he said. “Identifying and supporting locally-led conservation has always been at the heart of Tusk’s ethos.”

Since their launch in 2013, the awards have recognised 61 winners and finalists from 23 African countries. Past recipients have used grant funding to expand ranger patrols, secure wildlife corridors, equip community conservancies and create sustainable livelihoods linked to conservation.

Examples of supported initiatives include protecting gorillas in eastern Congo, conserving turtles in Sierra Leone, restoring forests in Madagascar and dismantling poaching syndicates in Zimbabwe. Organisers say the funding is designed to be catalytic, enabling winners to scale their impact and attract long-term investment.

Nick Bubb, Chief Executive Officer of TUSK, said the awards highlight the courage and commitment of individuals working in challenging and often dangerous conditions.

“We encourage anyone who knows an individual or ranger team who has made a significant impact on wildlife conservation to nominate them for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to have their achievements recognised on a global stage,” Bubb said.

In a significant development this year, the Tusk Wildlife Ranger Award has been expanded to recognise ranger teams alongside individual rangers, reflecting what organisers describe as the collaborative nature of modern conservation efforts.

The expanded category aligns with Tusk’s broader ranger programmes, including the Wildlife Ranger Challenge and the Ranger Welfare and Standards Initiative, which supports more than 6,200 rangers with training, equipment and insurance.

Nominations are open to conservation leaders across Africa and do not require nominees to be existing Tusk partners. However, individuals cannot nominate themselves and must be put forward confidentially by someone familiar with their work.

Nominations will close on the 26th of April and must be submitted online.