WATCH Victoria Falls Flowing at Highest in Years

Victoria Falls is currently flowing at its highest in decades! It’s an amazing sight when just over a year ago – December 2019 – Elisha Moyo, Principal Climate Change Researcher at Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Environment, Climate and Tourism, told the BBC that the average flow over the Victoria Falls during that year had been down by almost 50%. The famous tourist spot was suffering from the lowest rainfall in almost four decades during the 2018-2019 period.

As evidenced by the photo above, the water is back! The photograph was taken yesterday according to Facebook page Victoria Falls… and, as can be seen in the video below, the smoke is thundering! (Victoria Falls’ nickname is Mosi-oa-Tunya; which means ‘The smoke that thunders’, referencing the clouds of mist that rise above the falls.)

Victoria Falls said: “Victoria Falls currently flowing at its highest in Decades.”

The Zambezi River Authority (ZRA) said that continued local rainfall and increasing inflow from the Upper Catchment had led to the flow almost doubling from 8 Feb 2020 to 1,209 M3/s on the same date this year.

The ZRA said by April last year the Falls was experiencing four times as much water flowing over the waterfall as the previous April in 2019 when photos showed parts of the waterfall almost slowed down to a trickle.

Apparently the max flow ever recorded at Victoria Falls is 10,000 cubic metres per second, in 1958 (during the construction of the Kariba Dam wall).

Zimbabwe’s The Herald reports that the lowest flow recorded was in 1995/6 when there was just 390 cubic metres per second.

The Victoria Falls is one of Africa’s top tourist attractions, with its 1,708 m width making it the largest curtain of falling water in the world. The falls – into the Zambezi Gorge – are between 90 and 107 m high.

Victoria Falls is less than a 2-hour flight from Johannesburg.

British Airways (operated by Comair) recently announced it is resuming its Johannesburg to Harare flights on 28 March. Bookings are open. The best time to view the Falls is from February to May!

WATCH Victoria Falls in full flow, Zimbabwe

Follow @RealVictoriaFalls for more photos and videos of the Victoria Falls.