Visiting Victoria Falls in One Day
Visiting Victoria falls was a lesson in almost incomprehensible beauty — from within and without.
As one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World, it shouldn’t have come as a surprise that Victoria Falls is stunning, and yet somehow, it took my breath away.
Caroline and I visited the falls in a single day — starting out from the town of Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe, and then walking across the bridge to the Zambian side before returning to Zimbabwe for dinner — and that amount of time was honestly perfect.
The entrance to the Zimbabwean side of the falls.
The sweeping view of the falls on the Zimbabwean side.
We arrived in the town of Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe in the morning after a brief drive from Kasane to the border, a lengthy and stressful border crossing (watch out for the $100 fee to take your car across the border!), and then a quick one-hour drive into the town itself. We arrived drained, but still determined to see the best of what this world wonder had to offer us, so we checked in at Shoestrings Backpackers and then promptly headed toward the park entrance.
What to see At the Falls
If you’ve ever been to Iguazú Falls (the massive waterfalls that straddle the border between Brazil and Argentina), then you’ll find the debate between which side of Victoria Falls to visit to be a familiar one: do you want the panoramic views (Brazil / Zimbabwe), or the up-close-and-personal experience (Argentina / Zambia).
The Victoria Falls Bridge connects the Zambian and Zimbabwean side of the falls, with immigration offices at each end. In this photo, the Zambian border is on the left, the Zimbabwean border is on the right, and the falls themselves are off in the bottom left of the frame.
We highly recommend you visit both. For the extra $30 park fee, it’s worth it to follow in our footsteps and visit the Zimbabwean site first to get the sweeping vistas, and then the Zambian side to get your feet wet (literally). But if you’re truly pressed on money or time, I personally preferred the more intimate experience on the Zambian side.
Zimbabwean side | As mentioned above, the Zimbabwean side has a more complete view of the falls, and features a really cool cliff walk that juts out to various viewpoints from which you can see the Main Falls, Horseshoe Falls, Devil’s Cataract, and Rainbow Falls. If you have time to burn, then go all the way left when you enter the park before slowly making your way all the way to the right (towards the bridge). If you have less time, start in the middle (where you enter) and immediately head to the right. There is no exit to the Victoria Falls Bridge from either park, so you’ll have to leave the same way you came in before making your way to the border crossing.
Caroline leaving Zimbabwe…
… and Fiona entering Zambia!
Zambian side | As gorgeous as the Zimbabwean side of the falls is, the more hands-on experience on the Zambian side is the part of the day that truly took my breath away. You can walk directly up to the edge of the river, get soaked on Knife’s Edge, and even swim up to rim of the falls at Devil’s Pool (between mid-August and mid-January only; we came at the wrong season to do this, but check out Roaming Around the World’s helpful blog post on Devil's Pool if you’re curious about learning more).
The Zambian side feels much closer to the action.
Logistical Details
Visas | US citizens (and many other nationalities) can get a KAZA UniVisa visa for $50USD, which allows you to enter both Zimbabwe and Zambia, and move freely back and forth between the two. Before you go, double-check and take a look at the Zimbabwe and Zambia visa websites to make sure you have what you’ll need. And note that there’s a whopping $100 fee to take your car into Zimbabwe, so you might consider doing a package day trip from Kasane, Botswana instead, for a similar amount of money.
You can bungee jump off the Victoria Falls Bridge… but we didn’t!
Getting from Zimbabwe to Zambia | You can’t walk directly from one park to the other — you’ll need to exit the Zimbabwe park and walk across the Victoria Falls Bridge (~ 30 minutes walking, or you can take a taxi) before going through Zambian immigration, and then walking into the Zambian side of the park. You’ll still need to wait in line for immigration and customs at both borders, but there are immigration offices conveniently located on either side of the gorgeous Victoria Falls Bridge.
Park Entrance Fees | Visiting Victoria Falls isn’t a cheap affair in general, and if you go to both sides, it definitely adds up — but once you’ve already made the effort to be there, might as well go all in. Each park has an entrance fee of $30USD for international tourists, so you’ll spend $60USD in total to access both sides of the falls.
Monkeys playing around on the Victoria Falls Bridge on our sunset walk back from Zambia to Zimbabwe.
Budget | Visiting Victoria Falls is expensive — everything from the visas to the park fees to food really add up, and US cash is Queen in Zimbabwe, so make sure you have plenty on hand!
Where to Stay | We stayed at Shoestrings Backpackers, and set up our camper-truck in their backyard, but it was very rustic. For a much more luxe (and expensive) experience, go all-out and stay at The Victoria Falls Hotel (or just go for dinner, like we did!).
Caroline walking into the Victoria Falls Hotel for a fancy dinner after a long day.
A much deserved cocktail at the Victoria Falls Hotel!
And that’s a wrap!
A Final Note: Victoria Falls definitely deserves its’ status as one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World, and we hope you have as wonderful of a time visiting as we did.
