Why it is worth the two days
Because you are already there.
Our Zimbabwe hunting ground sits within reach of the Falls, and Victoria Falls has an international airport most clients route through anyway. Adding it costs you a day or two and no extra flying, which is a different proposition from flying to it specially.
It is also the single easiest answer to the question of what a non-hunting partner does. A hunting camp is a wonderful place for three days and a long one for fourteen. The Falls, the Zambezi and the town give somebody a reason to come.
What you actually see
The Falls are a kilometre and a half wide and drop a hundred metres into a gorge barely sixty metres across. That is what makes them unusual. Niagara is wider across but falls into open water; this one falls into a crack, which is why the spray goes a few hundred metres into the air and why the Kololo name for it, Mosi-oa-Tunya, means the smoke that thunders.
The viewing path on the Zimbabwean side runs along the gorge opposite the full width of the Falls. It takes a couple of hours at a walk.
When you go changes what you see. At full flood from February to May the spray is so heavy that much of the Falls is invisible from the path and you will be soaked through — impressive, and not a photographer’s trip. From September to December the water drops far enough that sections of the lip run dry and the geology shows. For most hunting clients travelling in our season, you arrive somewhere in between, which is arguably the best of it.
The rest of the two days
A sunset cruise on the upper Zambezi is the thing most clients remember. Flat water above the Falls, hippo and elephant on the banks, a drink in your hand and no walking. If you do one thing besides the Falls, do this.
The Victoria Falls Hotel is worth an afternoon even if you are not staying there. Colonial-era, terrace looking down the gorge at the bridge, and high tea served as if nothing has changed since 1904.
A helicopter flight over the Falls is fifteen minutes and expensive and nobody who has done it regrets it.
The bridge — bungee, zip line, gorge swing — if that is your family.
Tiger fishing gets its own page, because it deserves one.
How we handle it
We are hunters, not a travel agency, and we say so.
What we do is arrange it through the operators we have used for years — the lodge, the transfers, the cruise, the guide at the Falls. You deal with us, we deal with them, and nobody is handed a list of phone numbers and left to it.
Tell us when you first enquire if you want the Falls on the end of the hunt, because it changes which flights make sense and occasionally which dates work at all.
Practical notes
Visas. Zimbabwe issues most nationalities a visa on arrival. If you intend to cross to the Zambian side or into Botswana for the day, ask about the KAZA UniVisa, which covers Zimbabwe and Zambia and makes the border far less tedious.
Malaria. Victoria Falls is a malaria area. Take the same precautions you would in the hunting camp and do not stop your prophylaxis because you have left the bush.
Firearms. Your rifles do not come to the Falls with you. They stay secured and the paperwork stays in order; we handle that, and it is one of the reasons to let us arrange the trip rather than booking it yourself from home.
