Victoria Falls (Mosi-oa-Tunya) Zambezi River, Zimbabwe

Victoria Falls (Tokaleya Tonga: the Smoke that Thunders) is a waterfall in southern Africa on the Zambezi River at the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe. David Livingstone, the Scottish missionary and explorer, is believed to have been the first European to view Victoria Falls on 16 November 1855 from what is now known as Livingstone Island, one of two land masses in the middle of the river, immediately upstream from the falls on the Zambian side.

Livingstone named his discovery in honour of Queen Victoria, but the indigenous name, Mosi-oa-Tunya - literally /the smoke that thunders/ - is also well known. The World Heritage List recognizes both names. While it is neither the highest nor the widest waterfall in the world, it is claimed to be the largest. This claim is based on a width of 1708 meters and height of 108 meters, forming the largest sheet of falling water in the world. The falls are formed as the full width of the river plummets in a single vertical drop into a transverse chasm 1708 meters wide, carved by its waters along a fracture zone in the basalt plateau. The depth of the chasm, called the First Gorge, varies from 80 metres at its western end to 108 meters in the centre.

/Wikipedia.org/

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