Victoria Falls: the seventh wonder of the world

The local name for the falls is "Mosi oa tunya," or "the smoke that thunders." On our walking tour, the local guide told us that despite the story that they were "discovered" by Dr. David Livingstone, the British explorer and anti-slavery crusader, in 1855, actually they already were known by the local chief but ordinary people weren't allowed to see them.

It costs $20 for foreigners to get into the park where you can view the falls. It takes a couple hours to walk to the various viewpoints, including the most spectacular side views of the water plunging into the gorge — an otherworldly scene of mist and rainforest.

We wished we'd been able to come at several times of the day — the light and shifting mist make viewing better at different viewpoints at different times.

Adrenaline capital

These days the falls — served by the town of Victoria Falls on the Zimbabwe side, and Livingstone on the Zambian side — are also known as the "adrenaline capital" because of all the sport opportunies : bungee jumping, world-class white-water river rafting, absailing, canoeing.

Other possibilities include elephant-back safaris, walking safaris, game drives, walking safaris, cruises on the Zambezi (including sunset "booze cruises"), microlight, plane and helicopter flights over the falls, and visits to a traditional village.

None of these activities come cheap, but many people figure, as we did, that when you've spent so much to come this far and probably will never get this way again in your lifetime — what's another $85 for a 15-minute helicopter ride over the falls?

In the tamer category, activities include craft shopping, the aptly-named African Dance Spectacular (with stilt and pole dancing and huge papier-mâché dancing figures), and a stop at the Edwardian-era Victoria Falls Hotel, with its lush grounds and terrace dining overlooking Batoka Gorge, and a marker pointing the ways to Cairo and Cape Town (English colonial magnate Cecil Rhodes dreamt of a railroad that would span a British Empire extending from Cairo to Cape Town. The whole scene will feed some white people's bwana fantasies and leave others agog at the sheer magnitude of the British chutzpah, but either way, it's fascinating.

For American tourists, food and lodging are reasonable — for example, we ate a large dinner at a local restaurant, Mama Africa's, including several courses of farm-raised game meat (kudu, crocodile, ostrich, sable) with a typical appetizer of tiny salty fish and mopane worms (taste like super-salty chewy grass), for $10. (Note: You are advised to never pay with a credit card in Zimbabwe.)

We were booked as part of a safari at the over-the-top ("vulgar" is how some guidebooks put it) Kingdom Hotel in Vic Falls, a 10-minute walk away from the falls along a path full of persistent hawkers. The architecture of the resort and conference complex is an interpretation of the Great Zimbabwe civilization; it comes complete with casino, several restaurants, elaborate wood carvings, Zimbabwean antiques, and lavish buffets looking out at a lake (a sign warns you to watch out for little crocodiles, but we never saw any; we did have a bunch of monkeys visit us at the breakfast buffet, though).

Zambia vs. Zimbabwe

With political troubles in Zimbabwe, tour companies are heavily booking travelers into Livingstone, so a number of Zimbabwe-side hotels have folded and craft vendors have an air of desperation. The U.S. state department advises tourists to take "the same security precautions they'd take in any urban area of the developing world."

The village of Victoria Falls is compact, with major hotels, crafts, dancing and falls all within walking distance, and the tourist police ever-present . Several approached us, warned us against buying from street vendors, and even recommended a good restaurant. "We want you to have a good time," one said, "so you will say good things to your friends about your stay."

That was last year. Redmond travel consultant Renee Mills, who visited the falls in September, says she's now sending 99 percent of her clients to Livingstone. "I still consider Vic Falls OK to go to ... for the gutsy traveler," she says. "It feels pretty spooky at times with very few tourists present.

"Hawkers are still hanging on your heels and many people don't know how to deal with this and are uncomfortable in that situation. Zim now has the feel of a police state ... nobody dares say anything about Zim or its government when anybody else is within earshot."

So if you're anywhere in the neighborhood, do make sure you see the falls. But for now, sad to say for the Zimbabweans dependent on tourism, staying in Livingstone may be the more comfortable way to do it.