The legend of Victoria Falls

Nothing you've heard about the Victoria Falls can prepare you for the unending thunder and mist.

I am standing in front of a flimsy wooden fence - the only thing that separates me from the black basalt boulders and the swirling maelstrom below. Straddling the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe, the Victoria Falls have an evocative local name, Mosi-oa-Tuniya or the 'smoke that thunders'.
Before Zimbabwe's political troubles, the Zambian side of the falls was the less visited of the two vantage points. But now Zimbabwe's loss is Zambia's gain. Scottish explorer David Livingstone described Victoria Falls thus: 'a scene so lovely must have been gazed upon by angels in their flight'. The largest sheet of falling water, one of the seven natural wonders of the earth, twice the size of the Niagara Falls, 546 million cubic metres of water per minute - all the superlatives don't do justice to the phenomenon. It's more than a century-and-a-half after David Livingstone set foot here in 1855, but the area is still relatively unspoiled. There is an unbeatable combination of bush, river and waterfalls. There are no neon signs, searchlights, shopping malls or even guard-rails.
Our hotel, the Royal Livingstone on the Zambian side, is an oasis of colonial luxury with shaded verandas, rattan furniture, African artwork and sepia portraits on walls. It has liveried butlers with red fezes and vervet monkeys and zebras are on the grounds. We take a trip with our guide Justin, walking gingerly on the slick and wet concrete path around the rainforest bordering the falls. The forest green ponchos that Justin insists we wear look a little excessive to me. But soon enough, I am thankful for the protection that it offers me from the elements. I feel like I am walking through a rain cloud, drowning in the torrential downpour with the surround sound of the thundering waters.

The fall is actually five separate falls: Devils Cataract, the Main Falls, Horseshoe Falls, Rainbow Falls and the Eastern Cataract. An umbrella in hand, with our cameras tucked out of sight inside our ponchos, we soak in the columns of iridescent mist, and feast on the visual delight of double rainbows. Each bend in the path gives us spectacular views of the river plummeting over the rocks into deep gorges, and lasting images on our cameras.

Justin tells us about the River God Nyaminyami, a creature with the body of a snake and the head of a fish, who created the cataracts in a fit of rage. The natives believed that the ferocious torrents were the result of malevolent spirits and dropped offerings of beads and necklaces into the waters to appease the gods. Walking on the precarious Knife Edge Bridge we watch the furious river turn into the Batoka Gorge as we get drenched in the downpour. In the distance is the Victoria Falls Railway Bridge, on the 'no man's land' between the two countries. It was commissioned by Cecil Rhodes 'where the trains, as they pass, will catch the spray of the Falls', and is now the favoured place for adventure junkies to bungee-jump over the Zambezi.
The Falls are the omnipresent motif over the next few days. You can experience them in different ways: from the ground, from the river and from the sky. You can even watch an ethereal lunar rainbow on a full moon night. I watch them even as I enjoy a massage at the open gazebo of the Royal Spa at the hotel. As I lie face down, the angled mirror below the table reflects the mighty river and the plume of mist in the distance.

We take a speed boat on the swiftly flowing river, past floundering hippos, to Livingstone Island. This is a small promontory of dry land on the edge of the falls from where Livingstone first spotted the falls, from a dugout canoe and accompanied by members of the local tribe. Trips are subject to water levels, and only 12 guests are allowed to visit the island at one time. We squelch into the soft soil and walk past a 'loo with a view' on the rim of the falls, peering into the falling curtain of water, plunging 103 metres into the gorge below. We listen to tales of intrepid travelers and accidents. At the very edge is the Devil's Pool, a natural infinity pool accessible for a swim in the dry season.

Come sunset we take a languid cruise on the Zambezi River, spotting pods of dozing hippos with their jaws open showing their formidable teeth, crocodiles sunning themselves on rocks and an astonishing variety of colourful birds. My true 'ahaa' moment is when I slap on a helmet and sit on the sole seat behind the pilot for a 30-minute flight on a micro light (a hand glider with a motor) over the mile-wide Falls, smiling into the camera attached to the wings. Just me, the pilot, an engine and wings and the glorious wind buffeting me from all sides, this is the most unreal and heart-pounding view of the falls.
As we fly over the Mosi-oa-Tuniya National Park, I see herds of elephants and zebras grazing in the afternoon sun. The mist enshrouded forests, the massive Zambezi River, the rainbow studded thundering falls are forever embedded in the recesses of my memory chip.

Kalpana Sunder