THE VICTORIA FALLS
The Water that Smokes
Oh I have seen such panoply of might
As makes men fearful of mortality:
Grim cavalry of foam that fell on me
With weapons flashing in the fevered light,
And banners born aloft in wildest flight
Like sails of ships upon some magic sea
Whose unsubstantial waves of fantasy
Toss in black turmoil of eternal night.
Yet these frail warriors no proud foe deters,
Not even valour of envenomed soul
Clad in the clumsy armour of dull sense
Dare challenge their upraised scimitars,
But must bow down when their dread war drums roll,
In homage to divine Omnipotence.
Edward Lewis
The Victoria Falls of Rhodesia
Until the middle of last century, the interior of South Central Africa was wholly unknown to Europeans. The popular idea was that and explorers, hunters and artists, such as Le Vaillant, Campbell, Andrew Smith, Cornwallis Harris, David Hume, Gordon Cumming, Andersson, Galton, Schoon, and a considerable number of South African-born hunters and traders, had penetrated into the interior, but the heart of the Continent still remained untouched by European influence. Early maps did, indeed, show lakes and river systems and towns—the vacant places plentifully sprinkled with kings on their thrones, griffons and fabulous monsters, elephants and other animals. This ingenious practice caused Swift to satirise the map- makers of his time in the well-known lines :—
“ So geographers in Afric maps With savage pictures fill their gaps, And o’er unhabitable downs Place elephants instead of towns.”
The old maps gave prominence to a great river, variously called the Cuama, Leeambye or Zambezi, interrupted by cataracts at a point almost equidistant from the East and West coasts. It is obvious, however, that these cataracts could not have been meant to represent the Victoria Falls, if one considers the real distance of Tete and Chicoa from the sea, and the fact that both these places were at that period recognised geographical points.
The glory of the Portuguese had long since passed away, but their descendants for over three hundred years had been established in a number of small settlements scattered along the coastal belt of the Indian Ocean. Since the disastrous expeditions of Barreto and Homem in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, practically no attempt to explore the hinterland had been made from the East, although Oswell records that Portuguese were said to have been met in 1850 six hundred miles inland on the Bashukolompe (lower Kafue) River by natives of the Makololo tribe on a cattle raiding expedition. Between 1806 and 1811 the African Continent had been crossed latitudinally in both directions by two half-caste traders, Pedro Joao Baptiste and Amara Jose, but theirjourneys seem to have been worthless so far as any additional knowledge of the interior was concerned.
DAVID LIVINGSTONE
The possibilities of missionary expansion were brought to the fore through the published accounts of explorers, and missionary enterprise subsequently played a considerable part in the opening up of the vast unknown interior of the African Continent. Permanent missionary settlements, gradually creeping northward from the Cape, were established, and of these Littakoo, the head station of the London Missionary Society in South Bechuanaland, under the charge of Dr. Robert Moffat from 1817 to 1870, was the most remote until 1843, when David Livingstone established his first mission station at Mabotsa, about two hundred miles still farther north. Later he removed to Kolobeng, some fifty or sixty miles north'west of Mabotsa, where he met William Cotton Oswell, his friend Mungo Murray and a colonial trader named Wilson, and together they discovered Lake Ngami on 1st August, 1849. With Oswell he discovered the great Zambezi River, at Sesheke, on 4th August, 1851. Two years later, thanks to the generosity of Oswell, he explored the upper reaches of the Zambezi with the object of finding a trade route, and crossed the Continent from coast to coast—the first white man to do so. Leaving Linyanti, the chief kraal of the Makololo tribe on the Chobe River on 11th November, and on 20th September set out on his return to Linyanti. From there he followed having discovered the Victoria Falls (native name “ Mosi'oa'Tunya,” or “ Smoke that Sounds ”) on the way on 16th November, 1855.
On these journeys Livingstone had been appalled at the revolting cruelties of the slave trade, and he determined to do all in his power to suppress it. In his writings he has recorded his conviction that the quickest way to do this would be to open up the country to trade : “ If English merchants would come up the Zambezi . . . the slave traders would very soon be driven out of the market. . . . The natives readily acquire the habit of saving for a market. . . . Give a people the opportunity, they will civilise themselves, and that, too, more effectually than can be done by missionary societies.”
From now on, therefore, Livingstone virtually ceased to be the missionary and became the explorer. He proceeded to England, where he wrote and published a record of his discoveries for the Royal Geographical Society and received the Society’s Gold Medal.
It is an interesting fact that Livingstone’s great discovery which startled the geographical world was just a side excursion and did not form part of the planned itinerary of his expedition to the East Coast. He had left by boat from Linyanti with the intention of going as far as Kalai, a large island in the Zambezi, from where he was to leave the river and proceed by land along the north bank in order to avoid the rocky country in the vicinity of the Falls, against which the friendly Makololo had warned him. At Kalai, however, he made a sudden decision to view the falls about which he had heard so much, before continuing his journey. This accounts for his not crossing over to the south bank of the Zambezi, from where he would have had a much more magnificent view than he got from the island (now called Livingstone Island) on the lip of the Falls.
Livingstone had very nearly been forestalled by two years in his great discovery by James Chapman, who, with two companions, was elephant hunting in the neighbour' hood of the Chobe River in 1853. Chapman heard from one of the native chiefs that there was a great waterfall only three days’ journey to the eastward, and he bargained with some of the Makololo to paddle him there. But when it came to the point, the payment of beads and brass wire was unceremoniously returned to him and the natives refused to take him. Subsequently he learnt from Livingstone that the Makololo were in mortal fear of Mzilikazi’s dreaded Matabele, who had just lately cut up a tribe under Chief Wankie at no great distance away.
LIVINGSTONE'S FIRST IMPRESSION (The Victoria falls of Rhodesia)
“This was the point (Kalai),” he wrote afterwards, “from which we intended to strike off to the north-east, and I resolved on the following day to visit the Falls of Victoria—called by the natives Mosioatunya, or more anciently Shongwe. Of these we had often heard since we came into the country: indeed, one of the questions asked by the Makololo was, ‘ Have you smoke that sounds in your country? ’ They did not go near enough to examine them, but, viewing them with awe at a distance, said in reference to the vapour and noise, ‘ Mosi oa tunya ’ (smoke does sound there). It was previously called ’ Shongwe,’ the meaning of which I could not ascertain. Being persuaded that Mr. Oswell and myself were the very first Europeans who had ever visited the Zambezi in the centre of the country, and that this is the connecting link between the known and the unknown portions of that river, I decided to use the same liberty as the Makololo did, and gave the only English name I have affixed to any part of the country.
“ After twenty minutes’ sail from Kalai, we came in sight, for the first time, of the columns of vapour, appropriately called ‘ smoke,’ rising at a distance of five or six miles, exactly as when large tracts of grass are burned in Africa. Five columns now arose, and bending in the direction of the wind, they seemed placed against a low ridge covered with trees; the tops of the columns at this distance appeared to mingle with the clouds. They were white below, and higher up became dark, so as to simulate smoke very closely. The whole scene was extremely beautiful; the banks and islands dotted over the river are adorned with sylvan vegetation of great variety of colour and form. At the period of our visit several trees were spangled over with blossoms. Trees have each their own physiognomy. There, towering over all, stands the great burly baobab (each of whose enormous arms would form the trunk of a large tree) beside groups of graceful palms which, with their feathery-shaped leaves depicted on the sky, lend their beauty to the scene. . . . Some trees resemble the great spreading oak, others assume the character of our own elms and chestnuts; but no one can imagine the beauty of the view from anything witnessed in England. It had never been seen before by European eyes; but scenes so lovely must have been gazed upon by angels in their flight. . . .
“ Creeping with awe to the verge, I peered down into a large rent which had been made from bank to bank of the broad Zambezi, and saw that a stream of a thousand yards broad leaped down a hundred feet and then became suddenly compressed into a space of fifteen or twenty yards. The entire falls are simply a crack made in a hard basaltic rock from the right to the left bank of the Zambezi, and then prolonged from the left bank away through thirty or forty miles of hills. In looking down into the fissure on the right of the island, one sees nothing but a dense white cloud which, at the time we visited the spot, had two bright rainbows on it. From this cloud rushed up a great jet of vapour exactly like steam, and it mounted two hundreded or three hundred feet high; there condensing, it changed its hue to that of dark smoke, and came back in a constant shower, which soon wetted us to the skin. This shower falls chiefly on the opposite side of the fissure, and a few yards back from the lip there stands a straight hedge of evergreen trees whose leaves are always wet. From their roots a number of little rills run back into the gulf; but as they flow down the steep wall there, the column of vapour in its ascent licks them up clean off the rock, and away they mount again. They are constantly running down, but never reach the bottom. On the left of the island we see the water at the bottom, a white rolling mass moving away to the prolongation of the fissure, which branches off near the left bank of the river. A piece of the rock has fallen off a spot on the left of the island and juts out from the water below, and from it I judged the distance which the water falls to be about one hundred feet. The walls of this gigantic crack are perpendicular and composed of one homogeneous mass of rock. The edge of that side over which the water falls is worn off two or three feet, and pieces have fallen away so as to give it somewhat of a serrated appearance. That over which the water does not fall is quite straight, except at the left corner, where a rent appears and a piece seems inclined to fall off. Upon the whole, it is nearly in the state in which it was left at the period of its formation. The rock is dark brown in colour, except about ten feet from the bottom, which is discoloured by the annual rise of the water to that or a greater height. On the left side of the island we have a good view of the mass of water which causes one of the columns of vapour to ascend, as it leaps quite clear of the rock and forms a thick unbroken fleece all the way to thebottom. Its whiteness gave the idea of snow—a sight I had not seen for many a day. As it broke into (if I may use the term) pieces of water, all rushing on in the same direction, each gave off several rays of foam exactly as bits of steel, when burnt in oxygen gas, give off rays of sparks. The snow-white sheet seemed like myriads of small comets rushing on in one direction, each of which left behind its nucleus rays of foam. I never saw the appearance referred to noticed elsewhere. It seemed to be the of the effect of mass of water leaping at once clear of the rock, and, but slowly, breaking up into spray.
“ At three spots near these falls, one of them the island in the middle on which we were, three Batoka chiefs offered up prayers and sacrifices to the Barimo (God). They chose their places of prayer within the sound of the roar of the cataract, and in sight of the bright bows in the cloud. They must have looked upon the scene with awe. Fear may have induced the selection. The river itself is, to them, mysterious. The words of the canoe song are :—
‘ The Leeambye ! Nobody knows
Whence it comes and whither it goes.’
The play of colours of the double iris on the cloud, seen by them elsewhere only as a rainbow, may have led them to the idea that this was the abode of Deity.”
In 1857 Livingstone severed his connection with the London Missionary Society and accepted the position of Her Majesty’s Consul at Kilimane, at the same time taking the leadership of the “ Zambezi Expedition ” fitted out by the British Government, in which were included Dr. John Kirk (later Sir John Kirk) as medical officer and botanist, Thomas Baines as artist and storekeeper, and his brother Charles Livingstone as general assistant.
At Tete Baines was prostrated by fever, and there he was received into the Commandant’s house, where he was treated by the Portuguese authorities with the greatest kindness until he recovered. Grateful for this treatment, he conceived, as an artist, that the best way of expressing his thanks was to paint the portrait of his host and nurse. Charles Livingstone saw fit to convert Baines’s graceful recognition of his obligation into a charge of deliberate appropriation of public stores, which he made to his brother as leader of the expedition. It is a matter of regret to have to record that Dr. Livingstone accepted the accusation against Baines, and even went so far as to instruct Dr. Kirk to examine his private boxes, and to ascertain “ what had happened to five jars of butter which he took out of a cask and never sent to table or for cooking, and what he did with five barrels of loaf sugar which he was seen opening and drying, but which were never used in the expedition.” Kirk was ordered to send Baines home by the man'of'war which was to meet the expedition at Kongone, or if he declined the offer of conveyance he was to be left to his own resources. Kirk’s examination proved inconclusive, and Baines’s private boxes yielded nothing which could be identified as public property, except a small piece of canvas. Baines’s request for a formal examination at Tete was refused, and he was dismissed from the expedition.
When the party reached the Falls, therefore, Livingstone was accompanied only by Dr. Kirk and his brother Charles. They arrived on 9th August, 1860, and this time Livingstone crossed over to the mainland, on the south bank of the river, from where a much finer general view of the Falls was obtained than on his former visit.
It is not necessary in this record, which deals only with the Victoria Falls, to continue Livingstone’s further explorations. It is, however, fitting to add that he died at the age of sixty at Ilala, Chitambo’s Kraal, near Lake Bangweulu, on the 1st or 4th May, 1873. His heart was buried on the spot, but his body was primitively embalmed by means of salt and brandy and carried by his faithful followers overland through eight hundred miles of jungle to Zanzibar. From there the remains were transported to England, and finally laid to rest in Westminster Abbey on 18th April, 1874. A memorial statue by Sir William Reid Dicke has been erected at the western extremity of the Victoria Falls, commanding a view right along the chasm. This was unveiled on Sunday, 5th August, 1934, by Mrs. Livingstone’s nephew, the Hon. Howard Unwin Moffat, C.M.G., a former Prime Minister of the self-governing Colony of Southern Rhodesia.
A claim was recently put forward in the South African press that Carolus Trichardt, son of the Voortrekker leader Louis Trichardt and an elephant hunter by profession, was the discoverer of the Falls in 1840, based on the fact that in his travels northward along the East Coast “ past Zanzibar, almost to the frontiers of Egypt ” (so he said), he had sailed up the Zambezi River from its mouth and had reported a waterfall. There is nothing, however, to substantiate this claim on Trichardt’s behalf, and it has even been doubted that he got as far north as he thought. The waterfall he saw is probably the Kebrabasa rapid above Tete, shown on the early African maps, although its position is much distorted. It could not have been the Victoria Falls, as there is no record that he went so far inland. This should not detract, however, from the credit which must go to Trichardt for having completed, single-handed, one of the most remarkable and adventurous journeys in the annals of African travel.
The second white man to see the Falls was William Charles Baldwin, who came from Natal on a hunting expedition in 1860. When he got as far as Matetsi—his only direction-finder being a pocket compass—he heard the natives speak of the great waterfall not far away. He had no idea of the direction in which they lay, but he knew that if he held due north he must reach the Zambezi. When still ten miles off he heard their roar, and in his eagerness he walked all day and night, until at daybreak on 3rd August, 1860, he was rewarded with the sight of the river.
Baldwin spent several days at the Falls, and while he was there he met David Livingstone and his brother Charles, and Dr. John Kirk. He cut his initials just below Livingstone’s on the tree on the island on the lip, as being the second European who had reached the Falls and the first from the East Coast.
CHAPMAN and BAINES
In 1860 James Chapman, who had already traversed the greater part of South Africa, hunting and trading, during the previous ten years, decided on a new expedition which he had long cherished—the establishment of commercial stations across South Central Africa from sea to sea. In this he was again unlucky to be forestalled, for as he was about to commence the journey he heard that Livingstone had already traversed the continent from Loanda to the shores of the Indian Ocean. In Capetown he met his Livingstone's expedition, and together, on 9th December, 1860, they started on the first stage of their journey by sea from Table Bay to Walvis Bay. From there they followed the route of Chapman's previous journey, which he had made in 1855, from the Chobe River to the West Coast. Lake Ngami was reached in December, 1861, and the Falls on 23rd July, 1862. Towards dusk on the previous evening the travellers had encamped under a large tree, and throughout the night they heard a roaring sound “ like the dashing of a mighty surf upon a rock' bound coast.” In the morning Chapman climbed a tree and there beheld, to his surprise, at a distance of some six miles, the long line of smoking clouds rising perpendicularly from a crack in the earth. It was the Victoria Falls!
CHAPMAN’S DESCRIPTION
Chapman’s description of the Falls in his “ Travels ” is little known on account of the rarity of the book, but it is so good that it deserves repetition.
"I was in reality facing the Victoria Falls. As the sun sparkled on the edge of the precipice, I could distinctly see the water falling into a long, dark and narrow chasm, out of which the columns of smoke arose. on the south side, again, a double line of sun-lit waters shone in the depths of a beautifully wooded valley, seemingly flowing into the Zambezi.
THE VICTORIA FALLS HOTEL
The Victoria Falls of Rhodesia
Established in 1904 The Victoria Falls Hotel, known locally as 'The Grand Old Lady of the Falls,' is steeped in a rich and interesting history covering the growth of modern tourism to the Victoria Falls.
The Victoria Falls Hotel, which is managed by the Rhodesia Railways, is constructed of concrete and brick, and has been specially designed to afford a cool interior and to command an excellent view of the landscape. In addition to the usual bedrooms and public rooms associated with a first-class hotel, private suites are available in the best sections of the hotel. There is a dark-room for the convenience of photographers, and a modern open-air swimming pool.
The building is completely mosquito-proofed, and is provided with electric lighting, electric fans, hot and cold shower baths, and water-flush system of sanitation.
Hotel Tariff — According to class of rooms, inclusive rates are:—
Double Room - - from 42/- per day for two persons
Single Room - - - from 25/- per day per person
The tariff for private suites, including sitting-room, is from £2/10/- to £3/10/- per day for single accommodation, and for double accommodation from £2/2/- per day per person.
Reservations.—Intending visitors should communicate direct with the Manager. Victoria Falls Hotel, stating what accommodation is required, date of arrival and date of departure. Owing to the keen demand for accommodation, visitors are advised to book well ahead. The telegraphic address of the hotel is " Fallsotel, Victoria Falls."
Laundry —There is a laundry attached to the hotel, and laundry slips are obtainable at the hotel office.
Dogs —In the general interest of visitors, dogs are not allowed in any part of the hotel.
Hours of Meals.—Breakfast 8 a.m. Lunch 1 p.m. Dinner 7 p.m.
Early morning tea or coffee and afternoon tea are provided without extra charge.
Postal —There is a post and telegraph office close to the hotel at the Victoria Falls, where the usual postal business can be transacted. The office is open from 9 a.m. until 4.30 p.m., being closed on Saturday afternoons, Sundays and public holidays. All letters and telegrams for visitors are delivered to the hotel.
Trolley Service.—This service is under the control of the hotel management. The trolley cars are built to carry eight passegers only, and are propelled by natives along a narrow-gauge track. This track starts from a point to the left front of the hotel, and extends to the Trolley Junction. From this point a line runs to the Western Bank Boat House, passing en route the Rain Forest, Devil's cataract, and Canoe Landing Stage for Cataract Island. Another line runs from the Trolley Junction to the Railway Bridge.
Telephone boxes are installed at the terminal points and at the Trolley Junction, to enable a trolley to be summoned if none is in attendance.
SPORTS AND RECREATION
Swimming at the Victoria Falls Hotel, golf at the Victoria Falls Golf Club, tennis at the Victoria Falls Tennis Club, fishing in the Zambezi River, catching tiger fish and bream. An aeroplane is always available for flights over the falls, to the Kazuma Pan Game Reserve and the Chobe Swamps. The area within a radius of five miles from the Falls is a game reserve and shooting is prohibited.
The Victoria Falls Hotel : Erected in mid-1904 soon after the arrival of the railway, the first Hotel was typical of railway building at the time, with an iron-work structure and wooden walls and floors. The Hotel was initially capable of hosting 20 guests at a time, with twelve single and four double rooms, together with a dining area, bar and offices, and was fully equipped with modern luxuries such as electric lights and fans and running hot and cold water. Discover the history of the Victoria Falls Hotel - 'Corridors Through Time: A History of the Victoria Falls Hotel' - http://www.zambezibookcompany.com/zbc/corridors-through-time.html
And jointly owned by Zimbabwe and Zambia - following split of the railways after Zambia's independence non-railway assets, such as the VF Bridge and Hotel, were transferred to an interstate company, jointly owned by the Governments of Zambia and Zimbabwe - the Emerged Railways Properties (Private) Limited (E.R.P.). Discover more on the history of the Victoria Falls Hotel (Peter Roberts)
Victoria Falls Bridge
The Victoria Falls Bridge crosses the Zambezi River just below the Victoria Falls and is built over the Second Gorge of the falls. As the river is the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia, the bridge links the two countries and has border posts on the approaches to both ends, at the towns of Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe and Livingstone, Zambia.
The bridge was the brainchild of Cecil Rhodes, part of his grand and unfulfilled Cape to Cairo railway scheme, even though he never visited the falls and died before construction of the bridge began. Rhodes is recorded as instructing the engineers to "build the bridge across the Zambezi where the trains, as they pass, will catch the spray of the Falls". It was designed by George Andrew Hobson of consultants Sir Douglas Fox and Partners, assisted by the stress calculations of Ralph Freeman, who was later the principal designer of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The main central arch is a parabolic curve.
The bridge was prefabricated in England by the Cleveland Bridge & Engineering Company, before being shipped to the Mozambique port of Beira and then transported on the newly constructed railway to the Victoria Falls. It took just 14 months to construct and was completed in 1905.
The bridge was officially opened by Professor George Darwin, son of Charles Darwin and President of the British Association (now the British Science Association) on 12 September 1905.[8] The American Society of Civil Engineers lists the bridge as a Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.
The bridge under construction in 1905.
Constructed from steel, the bridge is 198 metres (650 ft) long, with a main arch spanning 156.50 metres (513.5 ft),[3] at a height of 128 metres (420 ft) above the lower water mark of the river in the gorge below. It carries a road, railway and footway. The bridge is the only rail link between Zambia and Zimbabwe and one of only three road links between the two countries.
The Victoria Falls Bridge did not bring the first train or the first railway to Zambia. To push on with construction of the railway north as fast as possible, Cecil Rhodes insisted that the Livingstone to Kalomo line be laid before the bridge was finished. Then a locomotive was conveyed in pieces across the gorge by the temporary electric cableway used for the transportation of the bridge materials and nicknamed the 'Blondin' by the construction engineers. The locomotive was re-assembled and entered service months before the bridge was complete.
For more than 50 years the bridge was crossed regularly by passenger trains as part of the principal route between the then Northern Rhodesia, southern Africa and Europe. Freight trains carried mainly copper ore (later, copper ingots) and timber out of Zambia, and coal into the country.
The age of the bridge and maintenance problems have led to traffic restrictions at times. Trains cross at less than walking pace and trucks were limited to 30 t, necessitating heavier trucks making a long diversion via the Kazungula Ferry or Chirundu Bridge. The limit was raised after repairs in 2006, but proposals for more fundamental rehabilitation or construction of a new bridge have been aired.
During the Rhodesian UDI crisis and Bush War the bridge was frequently closed (and regular passenger services have not resumed successfully). In 1975, the bridge was the site of unsuccessful peace talks when the parties met in a train carriage poised above the gorge for nine and a half hours. In 1980 freight and road services resumed and have continued without interruption except for maintenance.
Today one of the Victoria Falls Bridge's main attraction are historical guided tours focusing on the construction of the bridge and include a walking tour under the main deck. On the Zambian side there is a small museum about the bridge which is free to enter and contains a cafe selling refreshments. Also located on the bridge is the Shearwater 111 metres (364 ft) bungee jump including a bungee swing and zip-line. Concerns about safety of the attraction were raised in late 2011 after the bungee's cord snapped and a young Australian woman fell 24 metres (79 ft) into the fast flowing river.
The bridge was originally referred to as the Great Zambesi or Zambezi bridge, later becoming known as the Victoria Falls Bridge.