Victoria Falls is the waterfall on the Zambezi River inside Zambia’s Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park.
The falls lie on the Zambia–Zimbabwe border, where the Zambezi plunges into a series of narrow basalt gorges. Scottish explorer David Livingstone saw the falls in 1855 and gave them the name Victoria Falls in honour of Queen Victoria. The surrounding national park on the Zambian side is officially called Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park.
The falls are celebrated for their immense width and the cloud of spray that rises above the gorge during high flow. Their local name, Mosi-oa-Tunya, means “The Smoke That Thunders,” but that name and the English name refer to the same waterfall.
The water level changes markedly through the year. Higher flows create more spray, while the dry season exposes more of the underlying rock and individual cataracts.