Victoria Falls (Zimbabwe)

Victoria Falls is a Zambezi River cruise port and town in Zimbabwe's Matabeleland North province, with population around 35,000. The town is located on river's southern bank and east of the binational waterfall Victoria Falls.

The town was founded in 1901 with planned construction of a hydro-electric power plant to use the waterfall. The town was expanded after country's railway system reached it. In 1905 was opened Victoria Falls Bridge (over the Second Gorge) connecting Zimbabwe with Zambia (nearest city is Livingstone). Region's economy is largely based on tourism and health care (District Hospital, Chinotimba Clinic, Mkhosana Clinic, surgeries). Best-known tourist activities are water rafting and kayaking, golfing, cricket.

The town Victoria Falls is linked to Hwange (109 km) and Bulawayo (440 km) by road and railway. The region is served by Victoria Falls Airport (approx 18 km / 5 ml) south of downtown serving regularly scheduled international flights connecting to South Africa (Johannesburg, Cape Town), Namibia (Windhoek), Ethiopia (Addis Ababa), Botswana (Gaborone), Kenya (Nairobi), as well as domestic flights (by Air Zimbabwe) linking to Bulawayo and Harare.

As cruise port, Victoria Falls is included in the schedules of the premium houseboats Zambezi Queen and African Dream. Both ships are privately-owned and operated under charter by many of the world's largest river cruise companies, including AmaWaterways, Uniworld, CroisiEurope. Itineraries range between 3-4-5-days and usually depart from Kasane Botswana.

The waterfall Victoria Falls is part of the Zambia-Zimbabwe border and has 2 main drops, height 108 m (355 ft), width 1708 m (5604 ft) and an average flow of 1088 m3 per second. By height, it is twice the Niagara Falls on the Canada-USA border (Ontario-New York).