In short, Victoria Falls is the ideal destination for adventure junkies who also seek a fabulous, safe, and relatively easy trip to Africa!

Actually, after my first trip to this area as the ambassador of Put Foot Rally a while back, I chose Victoria Falls as a destination for my group trips because it really just has it all! The only downside is that it definitely is mostly run by white foreigners, which feels a bit cringey for me personally. I love to see hotels and tour companies run by locals, not just having them as workers, but I guess on a positive note, the tourism brings a lot of jobs for them.

Anywho! Victoria Falls and the area surrounding it is amazing, so here’s all the activities you can do there and how to book them!

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Where is Victoria Falls?

Victoria Falls splits across two countries, Zambia and Zimbabwe, and is located in East Africa. To see it you will need to journey to the cities of either Livingstone in Zambia or “Victoria Falls” in Zimbabwe.

How to Get to Victoria Falls

In my opinion, your best option for visiting Victoria Falls is to fly into Livingstone airport in Zambia. Most activities, adventures, and nice safari lodges are located on the Zambia side, plus you don’t need a visa for it (for USA, EU, and Canada citizens).

But, it might be worth it to also check the flights into Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe in case they are cheaper. Even if they are cheaper, keep in mind that you will need to pay for a KAZA Visa for Zimbabwe which will add to the cost.

Once you are there, you can easily and affordably take taxis to your accommodation and to the waterfall park. Most of the activities include a transfer.

Visas and Vaccines

Visas are not required for Zambia.

Visas ARE required for Zimbabwe, and you can purchase them on arrival.

If you plan on going back and forth between Zimbabwe and Zambia, you should get the KAZA multiple entry visa. But if you plan to cross into Zambia and stay there, just get a single entry visa. Depending on the person doing visas, you will likely need to tell them the name of your accommodation and show your ongoing flight. 

IMPORTANT: Make sure you have at least 6 blank pages in your passport! We had a woman run out of pages while in Zimbabwe, and they would not let her board her flight, and she had to go to the embassy to get a temporary passport!

Vaccines: Are not required. Some people wonder about Malaria pills, especially since there’s tons of mosquitos near the river, but I don’t personally recommend them. I’ve heard they make you sick anyway, so I always just make sure you bring strong bug repellent. Most accommodations include it in your rooms as well.

Where to Stay in Victoria Falls / Livingstone

As I mentioned, some of the nicest safari lodges are located around Victoria Falls. They are also very expensive, but I also found some relatively affordable ones. 

Here are the ones I stayed at, listed by highest to lowest price:

The River Club

This is a famously known safari lodge in Livingstone, with even the mention of its name resulting in responses like, “Oh they’ll take really good care of you there”, and they did.

Full disclosure, one night at the River Club will cost you about $800, and that being said, this was definitely a sponsored collaboration.

River Club is a bit farther away from the main area of Livingstone, so if you seek privacy and tranquility, you’ll absolutely love it there. Since it is so secluded, they make sure you have everything you can possibly need, including all meals with a daily changing menu, and plenty of activities. Or you can just relax by the infinity pool which overlooks the Zambezi River.

The chalets at River Club are incredible, and extremely spacious! They all have expansive balconies with river views, and my favorite part is they also have a downstairs bathroom, with floor to ceiling windows offering an incredible view from the bathtub!

Prices start around $800/night

Please click my link to book The River Club!

The David Livingstone Safari Lodge and Spa

The David Livingstone Lodge was the first place I ever stayed at during my first trip to Zambia five years ago. It is classic, quintessential safari chic, and a great option for your first trip to the area.

Rooms are luxuriously rustic, and part of a building rather than stand-alone. Sometimes I prefer this since I’m usually traveling solo, and stand-alone chalets can sometimes be a bit scary at night!

There’s also a beautiful infinity pool overlooking the river, and a boat dock where they offer many tours and sunset cruises.

Prices start around $400/night

Please click my link to book The David Livingstone Safari Lodge

Radisson Blu Mosi-oa-Tunya

If safari chic or rustic isn’t your thing, or if you’ve been traveling in Africa for a while and want some Western comfort, check out the new Radisson Blu that just opened in Livingstone.

It’s definitely a typical  American hotel, with typical rooms and whatnot. I will say that the lobby is decorated beautifully, and the pool area is really nice, also the breakfast was incredible! And I had been traveling in Africa for a couple weeks, so the familiarity was refreshing.

Prices start around $200/night

Please click my link to book Raddison Blu!

The Victoria Falls Waterfront

I had a collaboration at Riverfront as well, and I absolutely loved staying there! I’d say it’s the best “bang for your buck” if you’re on somewhat of a budget, but don’t expect anything fancy. My room was right on the river, but the room itself was pretty basic and a bit outdated. I wasn’t a fan of the bathroom, but at least it had hot water!

My favorite part of Riverfront was the restaurant and pool deck area. It has extremely affordable prices for food and wine, all the river views, and just a general chill, fun vibe. If you don’t end up staying here, you can still go hang and have a good time!

Prices start around $100/night

Please click my link to book The Victoria Falls Waterfront

Top Adventures to do in Victoria Falls

Here’s the section you’ve probably been waiting for! There’s so many incredible adventures to do in Victoria Falls, and I’d highly recommend starting to save up your money now so you can do as many as possible!

I’m going to list them in the order of top favorite and highest recommended! That being said, obviously the first one is:

Devil’s Pool

There’s a good chance Devil’s Pool is one of the main reasons you’re going to Zambia, so be sure to read this section carefully for important information!

But first, just in case anyone doesn’t know what the Devil’s Pool is; it’s a now-famous pool of water at the edge of Victoria Falls, which is accessible by taking a boat to Livingstone Island (a small island at the edge) then swimming across the top of the falls to get to the pool. It became super famous thanks to the seemingly death-defying photos you can take laying or sitting on the edge…which I’ll explain how those are possible in a sec.

It  is most important to know that you can only swim to and in the Devil’s Pool during LOW WATER SEASON, which starts around August/September and lasts until around December since the rainy season starts mid-November. 

This is for obvious reasons…if the water levels are high, you would go over the edge of the waterfall. Well that was a bit dramatic, but realistically, they will not allow you to go to Devil’s Pool when the water is too high. In fact, during my first trip, I wasn’t able to choose the dates, and it ended up being when the waters were too high, so I had to do a less extreme/exciting swim in the “Angel’s Pool”.

You can only do the Devil’s Pool with the one company that runs tours there and on Livingstone Island, and your tour includes the boat there, a guide to help you swim and hold your ankles, and another who takes your photos. It also includes a delicious farm-to-table breakfast afterwards!

The guides are seriously incredible, so be sure to bring cash to tip them well!

The Elephant Cafe

My equal top favorite activity to do at Victoria Falls is to go to The Elephant Cafe. This is a former elephant-riding park that decided to stop riding due to social media backlash (woohoo, go us!) and now to fund taking care of their rescue elephants, they offer a fancy meal to have as you watch the ellies roam freely.

If you don’t want to eat there, you can still go and just do the “elephant experience”, where you feed them some snacks and get your photo taken. Or you can do both as a package, which I highly recommend. Also available as a package add-on is a boat ride to the cafe (instead of driving). We LOVED the boat ride because the driver is also an adrenaline junkie, and in addition to showing us all the crocodiles and hippos, he also whipped a few boat-donuts on the river!

The meals at The Elephant Cafe are gourmet four courses and absolutely divine. They also include unlimited beer and wine. The cost for just lunch is $110.

Paratrike Flight

I’ve done both the paratrike and the helicopter, and I’d have to say I enjoyed the Paratrike more. It’s this little flying tricycle contraption that makes you feel like you’re a big bird flying over Victoria Falls!

Since there’s no enclosure, you can sometimes feel the mist that rises above the power falls, which by the way is where the waterfall’s original name comes from; Mosi-o-Tunya, which translates to “The Smoke That Thunders”.

Victoria Falls Zipline

You can’t go to Victoria Falls without doing at least one adrenaline-pumping “jump” and out of the three available, the only one I can honestly recommend is the zipline! It’s really fun and easy compared to the other jumping activities, and unless you’re afraid of heights, the view of the bridge, falls, and river below is breathtaking!

If you don’t have a selfie stick or if you don’t want to be holding one, you can rent one there with a wrist strap, or you can also buy the videos they take of you. I believe the package is around $75.

Sunset River Safaris / Cruises

Although they aren’t as adrenaline pumping as the other activities, I’d definitely recommend doing at least one river safari / river cruise. They’re basically a two in one deal, I’m just not sure which to call it.

I went on several of these and loved each one, especially since they tend to be all-you-can-drink, but I’d have to say the ****** cruise was my favorite. (Humblebrag: it was part of our group trip).

The boat was the nicest, and the only one with nice dining tables and decor. They serve a delicious three course meal, and had really great South African wines!

On all the cruises you can expect to see hippos and birds, and if you’re lucky, the occasional crocodile!

Helicopter Over Victoria Falls

There’s something about flying in helicopters that just feels really cool, and doing it over one of the world’s biggest waterfalls makes it even cooler!

It’s pretty expensive, and usually only lasts for 15 minutes, but the views are epic! If you prefer to feel safer, choose this flight over the paratrike.

Waterfall Parks

If adrenaline adventures aren’t your thing…or more realistically, if you’ve already finished doing them all and still want more waterfall action, you can head to the two waterfall parks.

The one on the Zambia side is a lot smaller, and has less viewpoints, BUT! It’s the only area that gives you access to the river at the bottom of the falls (unless you go white water rafting). This area is called the “Boiling Pot”, because that’s what it looks like, and it’s about a one to one and a half hour hike down and back up. It’s a bit strenuous as well, and one part required me to go barefoot through a small stream of water. Oh! You can also see the Victoria Falls bridge…and the bungee jumpers flying off of it.

On the Zimbabwe side there is a much larger park and pathway, with much better views and photo points. We spent over two hours here stopping at all of the viewpoints. This side also has the view of the Devil’s Pool, where you can see the daring adventurers swimming at the edge!

Bungee Jumping and The Swing

I’ve done both of these crazy adventures and can honestly say I will never do them ever again. At least not in Victoria Falls.

I’m not going to go into full details in case these are on your bucketlist, but I’ll just say bungee is fun when you’re flying, but the recoil is an absolute bitch. Then, since you’re strapped on by your ankles, which, by the way, are wrapped in towels…when you’re hanging there upside down waiting for the guy to come get you, it legit feels like your feet are going to slip out and you’re going to fall. You’re not, but it definitely feels that way.

The Swing is similar to bungee jumping except with bungee, you’re strapped at the ankles and you have to dive head first. The Swing straps you by the waist, and you jump feet first. This may sound like a less-scary option, but I found that jumping feet first makes the free fall feeling way worse.

BUT! Some people loved these activities! I’d definitely say try it once! ….and only once…coming from someone who has done it twice.

White Water Rafting*

I’ve never done white water rafting at Victoria Falls, but it’s one of the top activities they offer there so I’m including the info for it.

The rafting is done on the river below the falls, and you are highly likely to fall in the water. FYI the water is cold, and yes, there are crocodiles and hippos in the Zambezi, however they can’t be bothered with the rapids, so no need to worry about that.

Kayaking*

This is another activity I haven’t done, but I know it’s available. It’s not your typical tranquil kayaking along a calm river though, it’s more like extreme rapids kayaking. They recommend having a lot of experience kayaking for it, and like rafting, there is a high chance you will fall in.

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xx, Alyssa