Mosi-oa-Tunya: The Smoke That Thunders

After an exhilarating helicopter flight over Victoria Falls, we visited the Falls at sunrise.

Every trip to the Falls has been so unique for how it looks, how it feels, how it awes.

But sunrise, oh sunrise, by far is my favorite time to visit.  I fell in love with it at sunrise on this trip.

In all my visits, I'm surprised I've never showed you this in its both amazes and terrifies:
the fence that keeps you from going over the edge into the Falls at certain vantage points.

These thorns won't stop anything if you're really heading over.

This trip was blessed by so many rainbows. Stunning.

Be still my heart!

The sunrise.

Oh, Victoria Falls, you never disappoint.

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Snapshots from the Air: Flying Over Victoria Falls

While visiting the wonderful Victoria Falls town in Zimbabwe, we soared over the Falls.

Victoria Falls, one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World, is awesome.
Awesome as in the genuine definition: inspiring awe.

Taking a helicopter over the Falls runs away with your imagination and captures the beauty of this world.
It is easy to understand why David Livingstone wrote after seeing it that
"scenes so lovely must have been gazed upon by angels in their flight."

I've visited the Falls many times; each time is different and leaves me so wonderfully content.
No painting, no photograph I've seen captures its majesty and its indescribable ability to make you feel both tiny and happy.

They also never capture just how ginormous Victoria Falls is. Because it is.  Even that's an understatement.
The other name for Victoria Falls, Mosi-oa-Tunya ("The Smoke That Thunders") is somehow also an understatement.

Here's a video from my flight, look how it dwarfs nearby roads, that building at the bottom corner?
That's a lodge to give you a sense of its immensity.

Oh! Be still my heart, how beautiful the world is.

This was at a drier point of the season and it can still be seen so far away!

Our sweet ride.  It went too fast.

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Victoria Falls: The Rainy Season Natural Wonder of the World

Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, during the rainy season.

There is sooo much water, it's amazing.

Look at how different this same spot looks in the dry season.

No painting or photo I have seen of Victoria Falls has ever captured (in my opinion) the jaw dropping awesomeness of seeing it in person.

It literally takes your breath away.

This spot looks so different in the dry season!

The Falls need to be added to your bucket list of places to visit. Right now.  Actually it should have been done yesterday.

The Falls from town.

How insane is that amount of water?!  It is so cool.

You won't be disappointed in a visit.

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A Victoria Falls Christmas

Lucky me: I got to spend Christmas near one of the seven natural wonders of the world: Victoria Falls!

And Christmas Eve rang in this stunning sunset (I may have a thing for sunsets...)

A glass of Bordeaux and this view from the Victoria Falls Safari Lodge = an excellent evening.

Victoria Falls, as seen from the Victoria Falls Hotel.

Check out how different this looks than when I visited it in the dry season.

So much more water this time!

Was so excited to see Christmas decorations up at all the lodges.

Very different than my Christmas in Dakar!

Amazing how much more water there is the rainy season (more rainy season photos to come!)

Merry (late!) Christmas!!

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Into the Mist: the Victoria Falls Edition

While visiting Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, in the dry season,

I was amazed by the amount of water still flowing from this natural wonder of the world.

Even in the dry season, I had to pull out a waterproof point-and-shoot camera because of all the mist!

INSANE, isn't it?  This is what this area looked like from farther (and drier) away.

I am excited to visit it again during the rainy season...where I hear the water is insane and you have to wear a poncho!

Pretty dramatic, eh?  So beautiful.

My last edition of Into the Mist: Chimanimani Style!

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Victoria Falls in the Dry Season

Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe.

With a rainbow!

The Falls from Zimbabwe.

How different the Falls look closer than the Victoria Falls Hotel.

Even at the height of the dry season, there was a ridiculous amount of water.

The sound of the falling water was AMAZING.

You could hear it long before you reached the Falls.

I saw the Falls' mists and my first thought was holy moly! That is a LOT of water.

Victoria Falls is one of the seven natural wonders of the world.

If it's this much water and mist in the dry season, I can't wait to see the Falls during the rainy season!

All the water from the Falls leaves part of an environment similar to that of a rain forest.

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