Zambezi

The Zambezi is Africa's fourth-longest river, flowing through six countries before plunging over Victoria Falls — one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World — in a curtain of water a mile wide and more than 100 metres high. The local Kololo people called it Mosi-oa-Tunya: 'The Smoke That Thunders.' No description adequately prepares a first-time visitor for the sight, sound, and sensation of standing at the edge of this extraordinary natural spectacle.

Upper Zambezi river safaris operate above the falls in the Zambezi National Park, where pontoon boat excursions allow close encounters with hippo pods, elephant herds fording the river, and crocodiles patrolling the sandbanks — all against a backdrop of riverine forests alive with extraordinary birdlife.

Below the falls, the river narrows through the Batoka Gorge — one of the world's premier white-water locations — before broadening into Lake Kariba, a vast inland sea where houseboat safaris offer a unique perspective on Zimbabwe's wildlife, with game drinking at the shoreline at dusk.