Friday, March 29, 2024

Victoria Falls thundering towards record levels in 2021

Share

The rainy season in the Zambezi River catchment area begins around November and lasts until March.

During this time and beyond, the Zambezi experiences high water levels and an intense curtain of water barreling into the 100m chasm of Victoria Falls. The 2020/21 season has been extraordinary.

In February, Vusa Sibanda, a local travel guide said: “Never have I seen Victoria Falls this full during this time of the year”. He explained that waters from the big catchment area in Angola haven’t even arrived yet. “I just can’t imagine how will they look then.”

Sibanda has guided tourists to the Falls for the past 20 years.

The rainy season in Zimbabwe begins in December, but local rains do not have the biggest impact because they aren’t as heavy as the upper Zambezi River catchment in Angola.

This water usually only reaches Victoria Falls in March, April and May. With current levels it may reach one of its highest volumes in history when the big waters flow in.

At present the flow is almost triple the amount recorded last season.

At peak between February and April, an average of 500 million litres cascades over the falls every minute.

This season will prove dramatically higher.

Nigel Frost, COO at Africa Albida Tourism which owns the iconic Victoria Falls Safari Lodge and Boma restaurant said: “The Falls is probably at its most magnificent. Certainly more beautiful than I’ve ever seen.”

Frost added that he anticipates the surge in water to mimic the surge in tourism as the vaccine roll-outs start kicking in and the world begins to travel again.

9 COMMENTS

  1. BA LT, FIRST AND THE FIRSTWORD (Frost- the PROPER NOUN) IS SOME’S SURNAME. ACCORDING TO WHAT YOU HAVE WRITTEN (Nigel Frost) IN THE FIRST LINE OF THE SECOND LAST PARAgraph Frost, by it’s positioning appears tobe Nigel’s surname which in your last paragraph should have been written as Mr Frost as opposed to Frost.

    Please, mind you grammar. Or else find an editor with a very good command of English. Your Grade 5 editor is not doing your site any good. Otherwise this website will continue to be a load of crap.

    1
    1
  2. Please call it by it’s rightful name, the magnificent Mosi-oa-Tunya, not that other name with colonial overtones!! It’s time to take back ownership. Will make a trip though…

  3. How has zambia benefited from
    High levels from Victoria falls?We
    Should market more and bring in
    More tourists as we are in need of
    Forex.

  4. @Skylab It’s not South Africa we have to watch and worry about it’s those Crooks across the border in Zim we must watch that claim Vic Falls is ALL in Zimbabwe and they are getting several air carriers to land at Vic Falls instead of Livingstone. They are our biggest problem. We must protect our own.

Comments are closed.

Read more

Local News

Discover more from Lusaka Times-Zambia's Leading Online News Site - LusakaTimes.com

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading