There are moments while visiting Victoria Falls that the immensity of the experience is overwhelming, that words are not sufficient. I know that sounds like hyperbole but visiting Victoria Falls was so intense and breathtaking that the feelings are permanently etched in my memory and became part of me. Words fail to describe them, and photos do too.
Although a unique way to see Victoria Falls, my awe-inspiring moment did not occur when I was in a helicopter watching the mile-wide Zambezi River cascade over the falls between Zimbabwe and Zambia. The most impactful way to experience the falls is to walk alongside them (especially on the Zimbabwe side), where the spray from the falls is so thick that the path before you is obscured, you are soaking wet despite wearing heavy body-length poncho, and taking your camera out to snap a photo is unthinkable.
Regarding that helicopter ride ... while there is some risk in many activities on vacation or otherwise, little items like aircraft maintenance and pilot training standards didn’t occur to me when we signed up for the flight but did when we arrived at the launch site and were greeted by a friendly host, aptly named Surprise. Nothing about the helicopter looked unsafe, but nevertheless, this is the moment when I started to question my decision.
Despite my last-minute concerns, I doubled down in my resolve, cast caution to the wind and jumped into the front seat beside the pilot.
It was impossible to capture a photo that evenly modestly conveys how shuffling along the Falls’ edge made me feel. Or the calmness or completeness I felt when sitting in an unremarkable plastic lawn chair on a pontoon boat slowly cruising along the Zambezi, spotting wildlife, watching the Smoke the Thunders, and sipping gin and tonics while the sun set over the palm trees.
I can show you a photo, but it could never capture the experience.
For more photos from my first trip to Victoria Falls, visit my Flickr.
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