Adventure Sports at Victoria Falls

Victoria Falls, famous for its awe-inspiring surroundings, is also one of the adventure-sport hotspots of Africa and on any given day the town is abuzz with people heading off to bungee jump, raft through exhilarating rapids, hurtle across the Batoka Gorge on a zip-line, or even fly over “The Falls” in a microlight.

These activities, and others, are all located close to the town and the energetic might even find time to do more than one of these adrenaline-pulsing challenges in a day, and then and later relax with a sundowner cruise on the Zambezi River.

The white-water rafting though the deep gorges downstream of Victoria Falls is some of the most thrilling in the world, with some parts offering challenging Grade 5 rapids.

The nature of the rapids fluctuates according to the seasonal water levels and at peak flow, which is usually from January to July, the first ten rapids are usually avoided for safety reasons.

The rafting is undertaken in either oar boats, where a guide steers the boat as it surges down the river and guests hold on, or in rafts, where everyone is equipped with a paddle.

Full day and half-day excursions are offered, as are multi-day trips further downstream.

Jet-boat rides through the sheer basalt-walled gorges to the base of the falls offer awe-inspiring views of the water as it plunges over the lip of the “Falls.”

High above the river, the Victoria Falls Bridge offers one of the most famous bungee jumps in the world, and since 1994 tens of thousands of adventurous people have taken the 111 m (364 ft) plunge above the roaring river. 

A little further downstream other thrill seekers hurtle along at speeds of over 100 kmph (62 mph) down a “zip-line”,a harness which runs along a pully running on a steel cable , which stretches 435 metres (a third of a mile) across the gorge. Others “swing” above the river from cables attached to anchor points at the edge of the gorge.

For those unwilling to expend too much energy there are regular microlight and helicopter flights over  “The Falls.”

For many the excitement of rafting, jumping, swinging, or flying is just the beginning of their adventure, because Victoria Falls is surrounded by protected areas with good wildlife population and elephants often wander into the town.