FROM THE STARTING BLOCKS: Victoria Falls’ Geological, Historical and Rail Connections

Along its 2700 kilometre route, the Zambezi River passes through hard rock in which it must excavate its bed and so forms rapids and waterfalls. Upstream from the Falls, a sudden southward bend causes the current to flow faster and more unevenly and eventually, the whole river – now 1700 metres wide – plunges into a chasm 108 metres deep which cuts right across its course. Isn’t it amazing that a river nearly two kilometres’ wide, becomes one of only a fraction of that width, in just a matter of seconds?

During the Jurassic age, volcanic activity caused molten lava to force its way up through fissures in the earth’s crust. This caused layers of gradually solidifying material which eventually became basalt rock, but with gaseous expansion in the lava, holes were formed which were comparatively susceptible to weather. There are now marked by bands of vegetation that grow in the loose rock along the sides of the gorges.

This solidification into basalt caused fissures which later widened after the volcanic activity had ceased. In Victoria Falls, these fissures run predominantly east-westerly, and in time, the river’s waters will flow closer to Cataract Island rather than the Eastern Cataract side, which is almost dry towards the end of the dry season. This will eventually break through to form a new gorge and broad fall along one of those east-west fissures already visible from the air.

The Victoria Falls area is rich in early Stone Age sights: tools found in various places are of the Oldowan Industry type, referring to a group of people found in the Olduvai Gorge of Tanzania. These early hominids are classified as Homo habilis and lived in the vicinity of the Falls about two and a half million years ago. Further excavations later traced middle and late Stone Age settlements, but it was the Iron Age culture which dominated in the region, with the first settlers arriving in the first millennium A. D. These people - the Bantu - are the ancestors of many of the people living in Victoria Falls today.

In 1855, a Scottish missionary called David Livingstone is thought to have been the first European to see the Victoria Falls. Prior to his arrival, Livingstone was trying to find an outlet to the east coast of Africa and sailed down the Zambezi River, looking for Kalai. He then continued from Kalari to investigate the ‘smoke that thunders’ phenomenon and was taken downstream by dug-out canoe to the northern end of an island on the edge of the precipice, which was later named Livingstone Island.

Although an extremely practical man, Livingstone was so moved by the beauty of the Victoria Falls that he enthusiastically uttered “On sights as beautiful as this, Angels in their flight must have gazed”, and promptly named them after his Queen.

Livingstone’s discovery and visit would bring celebrity to the Falls and ensure a regular supply of curious visitors. There were always hunters, traders, and missionaries passing through during the latter half of the century, but the 1890s brought an influx of Europeans into the then-Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) with the discovery of coal in Hwange, reports of copper in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) and the defeat of Lobengula’s armies. Suddenly, Victoria Falls became - and would remain - an important conduit for business - particularly for the entrepreneurial Cecil John Rhodes.

The traders’ settlement was on the north bank of the river and was known as the Old Drift. During its heyday in the twentieth century, plans were proceeding for a railway which would link the Cape with the north of Africa – known optimistically as the ‘Cape to Cairo’ route. (In fact, this was never completed and ended at the Zairean border.)

But to continue the ‘Cape to Cairo’ the Zambezi River had to be tamed by building a bridge across one of the gorges so that visitors could ‘see and hear the Falls and even feel its spray’ (being Cecil John Rhodes’ wish). The bridge was completed in April 1905 and brought with it, the inevitable curio dealers – Percy Clark of Clark’s Curios being the first settler in the area who set up shop.

The influx of visitors meant that better accommodation than the existing railway compartment on the train needed to be built. Work commenced on a wood and corrugated iron inn – the precursor to today’s Victoria Falls Hotel - close to the railway station but it soon became apparent that improvements to and in the original buildings, meant that a luxury hotel with modern amenities of the day would be constructed.

In the 1960s, the tourist potential of the Falls was realised and further infrastructural development occurred, with shops and services springing up to answer the needs of the community. Thus the bustling and vibrant Victoria Falls of today was borne and it’s never looked back!