This morning’s adventure took our group to Mosi-oa-tunya, as they’re known locally, or Victoria Falls, as they’re referred to by the world at large. The local name is pronounced like moe-see-oh-ah-tune-ya, with emphasis on the “mo” and the “tun”. The name means “smoke that thunders”.

We were given large overcoats to wear while viewing the falls. A few members of the group, including me with my water- and wind-proof Eddie Bauer Travex jacket, had their own waterproof gear. Thembi, our G Adventures guide, and Smart, our guide for touring the park, assured us that we would get wet from “the mist” even with the rain gear on. I think some of us were skeptical, seriously how wet could it really be?

As it turns out, that “mist” was very often a heavy rain. We were all soaked in very little time. The mist is so heavy it actually obscures the view of the falls at many of the viewing points.

I remembered to bring a plastic sleeve for my camera, to protect it from the mist, but I soon put it away as nothing was going to keep it dry. Thus most of these pics and videos are from my iPhone, which was small enough to fit inside the coat sleeve so I could keep shaking it dry, lol.

It is currently the high season (the high tide, if you will, of the Zambezi river, the fourth longest in Africa), thus the mist is at its fullest. Our guide, Smart, told us to return in low season (September through November) for a less mist-y experience.

But heavy mist or not, it was a great adventure and experience. The falls were beautiful , thunderous, and filled with rainbows. We all dried off pretty quickly and were none the worse for all the wet. I’ve included a few more pics below and will have another blog post or two to share the rest of this morning’s experience. Enjoy!