Mosi-oa-Tunya
The Botswana trip continued up northeast until we arrived at Mosi-oa-Tunya (the smoke that thunders). The Zambezi River begins near those same Angolan highlands that create the Okavango and travels south through Zambia until it hooks east, serving as the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe. Eventually it hits Mozambique, then proceeds to curve southeastward and dumps out into the Indian Ocean. Its most notable feature, however, is a magnificent waterfall. If we measure the total height and width, it would be considered the world's largest waterfall (not to be confused with the tallest, Angel Falls). When David Livingstone stumbled across it 170 years ago, he felt it earned the right to be named after Queen Victoria, and the name has stuck for most English-speaking people.
It was a rather stunning place with gentle (but wet) walking paths around the southern side looking north into the Zambian side of the falls.
The reason it is referred to as "the smoke that thunders" is that there is simply such a high volume of water being dumped into such a narrow gorge. You can see that somewhat clearly in the photo above. The massive amount of water crashing down sends countless water droplets into the air, where powerful air currents carry them upward, forming huge clouds of mist that soak everything nearby. The "thunder" comes from the immense roar of the falls that seems to reverberate throughout the gorge and humble whoever hears it.
I made sure to put my rain jacket in my bag before we left, then I promptly took it out to reorganize the bag and never put it back in. I found this out after getting into the park (the admission tickets were "no re-entry"). Needless to say, I said a couple of choice words, then mentally embraced the upcoming two hours of getting soaked. And it turned out Matt's super nice jacket was more water-resistant than waterproof. Tim and his $0.50 single-use piece of plastic kept him warm and dry the whole time. But he was cool and offered to carry all the electronics with him.
It was nice to be there, but after the wild and adventurous trip we'd had through the Okavango, we naturally felt somewhat underwhelmed. The falls are actually hard to see because of all the mist and clouds surrounding the viewpoints. Don't get me wrong, it was beautiful, but probably more of a "one-and-done" thing instead of a "let's-go-again" thing.
That being said, we still had a lot of fun.
Time to hit the road and work our way back home.
