Mosi Oa Tunya National Park

Mosi Oa Tunya National Park is the Zambia protected area of the shared Victoria Falls with Zimbabwe’s national park being Victoria falls National Park  The Zambian park covers an area of 9 square miles (23.4 sq km).

The name locally translates into, “The Smoke Which Thunders.”  Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park Falls are a UNESCO World Heritage site serving as home to Victoria Falls which is the largest waterfall in the world.

The national park is only 25 square miles (66 sq km) big.  Although Victoria Falls is the pinnacle of the park, visitors can take a half-day safari through the park and experience rhino, elephant, zebra, giraffe, wildebeest, buffalo, hippo, and crocodile are possible wildlife sightings in this small national park.

There are a number of ways to experience the falls on the Zambia side.  There are short trails that travel above the falls, however, the primary views come from the trail in the rainforest which is across the gorge facing into the falls.

The falls plummet to the bottom of the gorge floor and then rise back up well over the falls, creating the smoke that thunders, and returns back down as rain.  This moisture creates the rainforest environment found only in that area.