Smoke That Thunders

On Monday we were able to hire a car and go with a local family (mum and 3 children) to Livingstone to see the Victoria Falls.  This family had never been before and it was a thrill for us to see their reaction to so much water.  We had previously asked Charles, 12, what was the biggest piece of water he had seen.  It was a pool less than the size of a football pitch.  The Zambezi rendered him speechless!

 

Victoria Falls in the local language (Nyanja) is Mosi-oa-Tunya, which translates as The Smoke That Thunders.  From above the falls you can see a huge cloud of spray rising up like smoke, and the noise is thunder.  We could see this column of cloud as we approached Livingstone, from about 4 miles away.  Mosi-oa-Tunya is also the name for Livingstone itself.  In Chitonga, the language here that we are trying to learn, it is Manziahuma, which means Water and Thunder.

The water level is at its peak at the moment (it reaches a maximum flow rate of 3000³/second going over the falls.  We got very wet and the visibility was dramatic, some might say poor!

Count the legs - 3 children, one coat!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Afterwards we sat above the falls to dry out and eat a picnic, and for the children to play in the water.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the end of the afternoon we drove by the river to see what we could see.  Quite a variety of creatures as you can see.

 

There was a lot of sleeping in the car on the way home.