Whereas the Victoria Falls are neither the widest nor the best waterfalls on the planet, they’re undoubtedly the most important. At 1,708 meters extensive and 108 meters excessive, they mix to type the most important single sheet of falling water wherever on earth.
It’s right here the place your entire quantity of the mighty Zambezi River – which kinds the pure border between Zimbabwe and Zambia – positive factors velocity and plummets down into the Batoka Gorge, a slender zigzagging channel carved out over hundreds of thousands of years alongside a fracture zone within the basalt plateau.
Scottish explorer David Livingstone may need been the primary European to set eyes on the Victoria Falls on the sixteenth of November, 1855, however he by no means took any images of it. That isn’t very stunning although, since he “found” the falls a mere 30 years after the primary everlasting {photograph} was produced by French inventor Joseph Nicéphore Niépce. After naming the falls in honor of Queen Victoria, Livingstone wrote that “Nobody can think about the fantastic thing about the view from something witnessed in England. It has by no means been seen earlier than by European eyes, however scenes so pretty will need to have been gazed upon by angels of their flight.”
The angels in flight in all probability didn’t take any images both.
It isn’t recognized who did take the primary images of the falls, however whoever it was, he (or she) was within the lucky place to seize a singular composition with each single publicity. Nowadays, Victoria Falls are visited and photographed by hundreds of individuals every single day, which implies that we are actually pressured to work loads more durable to search out and seize our personal distinctive and fascinating compositions.
The Problem
Not solely are we challenged to search out never-seen-before compositions, however we’re additionally challenged in quite a few different methods, most notably by the water spray, which billows up from the gorge and rises to a top of over 400 meters. It was this spray that impressed the early Batoka individuals to call the falls Mosi-oa-Tunya – translating to “The Smoke that Thunders” – and which could be seen from as much as 48 kilometers away.
Maintaining your digicam and lens dry below these situations is sort of a problem when the falls are at their smallest through the dry season. Maintaining your gear dry through the wet season is virtually inconceivable.
You would possibly assume that an umbrella could be a useful device to keep up a dry lens, however actually, it’s fairly ineffective. As you method the sting of the cliff reverse the falls the spray shoots upwards like inverted rain, soaking all the pieces and everybody in its path.
There may be merely no option to hold your lens dry right here – chances are you’ll as effectively be capturing in a drive-through automobile wash.
When to Go to Victoria Falls
The very first thing to contemplate when planning a photographic journey to Victoria Falls is when to go. It’d look like an excellent concept to time your go to to coincide with the wet season (from late November to early April) in order that you may seize the falls at their peak circulation. However you’ll in all probability be very disenchanted if you happen to do. There may be a lot spray within the air throughout these months that it’s inconceivable to see the underside of the gorge. In exceptionally moist years the spray is so heavy that it could not even be doable to see the highest of the falls.
The one option to {photograph} the falls throughout these months is from the air, by chartering a helicopter, which in flip affords extra challenges like the issue of capturing by way of the highly-reflective Plexiglas home windows.
Though they won’t be as spectacular through the dry season as they’re within the wet season, if the aim of your go to is to {photograph} the falls, then you might be greatest suggested to plan your journey for October or November, when the spray ranges grow to be extra manageable and taking first rate images turns into doable as soon as once more.
There are fortuitously a number of advantages to planning your go to to coincide with the tip of the dry season. It is just at the moment of the 12 months when the course of the dawn and sundown aligns completely alongside the size of the gorge, which implies that that is additionally one of the best time of the 12 months to see rainbows.
In the event you plan your journey to coincide with the total moon, you would possibly have the ability to guide a guided tour to witness the fragile lunar rainbows, created by the sunshine of the moon reflecting within the water particles of the misty spray. This distinctive occasion can be seen on the nights earlier than and after the total moon and is the one time when the gates to the rain-forest park on the Zimbabwean facet of the falls are opened to the general public after sundown.
The place to Keep at Victoria Falls
Whereas the views of the falls are undoubtedly extra spectacular from one of many 16 viewing factors within the nationwide park on the Zimbabwean facet, visiting the falls from the Zambian facet does have some benefits. The tickets to enter the park are loads cheaper on that facet, and the lodging within the close by city of Livingstone can be extra diverse and customarily cheaper.
In the event you resolve to go to the falls through the wet season it’s best to positively think about staying on the Zambian facet. Not solely is the spray much more manageable on that facet, however it’s only right here the place you’ll be able to safely stroll proper as much as the sting of the falls, enabling you to seize photographs of the water cascading down into the gorge.
In the course of the dry season, nevertheless, the falls typically dry up fully on the Zambian facet, forcing you to cross the border into Zimbabwe if you wish to get a correct have a look at them. You’ll have to current your passport when crossing the border, however lately you might be issued with a day cross so that you just received’t want to use for a visa prematurely.
Whereas it could be a bit dearer to enter the park on the Zimbabwean facet, this facet positively affords many extra photographic alternatives. It isn’t doable to acquire a multiple-entry cross, nevertheless, so if you happen to do plan to spend a number of days capturing within the park, be suggested to finances accordingly.
Additionally, you will be requested to current your passport when buying your park entry tickets, so don’t depart that in your protected again on the resort when visiting the falls. A lot of the lodging on the Zimbabwean facet of Victoria Falls is located within the city of Victoria Falls (the city and the falls each have the identical title, which does typically get a bit complicated). It is possible for you to to search out all kinds of resorts right here, from finances backpackers to the luxurious 5-star Victoria Falls Lodge.
Whereas many of those resorts are inside a brief strolling distance of the falls, there are additionally loads of taxis to take you there if it’s too far to stroll and also you don’t have your individual transport.
Capturing Distinctive Compositions
So now that we all know one of the best time of 12 months to go to the falls and the place to remain, how will we go about capturing stunning images and distinctive compositions of the world’s largest waterfall? A lot of the photographic alternatives current themselves on the 16 viewing factors, that are strategically located alongside a round path across the park. All of those viewing factors are set a couple of meters again from the sting of the gorge, so your view of the falls will at all times be restricted. Fortuitously, there are nonetheless a couple of spots the place you’ll be able to look down into the underside of the gorge.
On busy days when extra individuals enter the park than regular, you may also have to attend patiently behind an enormous group of vacationers to your temporary alternative to take {a photograph} or two. Regardless of the breathtaking views of the thundering waterfalls, sadly, the fixed spray, the restricted compositional prospects, and all of the vacationers jostling for place imply that capturing nice photographs of the falls is way more tough than you may think.
So how does one go about discovering and capturing distinctive and fascinating compositions right here?
Among the best methods to attain that is whenever you place your self the place the least variety of different individuals stand once they view the falls. Though a lot of the viewing factors nearer to the sting of the gorge have protecting stone limitations, there are nonetheless a couple of nice spots with superb views that most individuals don’t trouble to entry.
The picture above was taken from a small ledge inside spitting distance of the “Satan’s Cataract” – probably the most highly effective a part of Victoria Falls. This would possibly look like a really harmful spot for me to be standing, however there was a big ledge proper under me and simply out of the body. Reaching this actual location is just doable through the dry season.
As a result of fixed spray, the grass and rocks are very slippery, so it’s best to stay a protected distance from the sting always. Victoria Falls has claimed many lives in previous a long time, with the numbers rising in recent times due to Instagram and all the opposite social media platforms that appear to encourage selfies taken in harmful locations. Just one fortunate individual has ever survived a plunge over Victoria Falls.
One other approach to make sure that you take advantage of your photographic alternatives is to have a variety of focal-length lenses in your bag. It could be tempting to make use of your widest lens in an try to seize as a lot of the falls as doable, however the perspective distortion in wide-angle lenses implies that distant objects at all times look loads smaller by way of the lens than they do in actuality. And since we are trying to seize distinctive images of the most important waterfall on the planet, it appears a pity to cut back the importance of these falls by capturing them with a wide-angle lens.
You could possibly think about becoming a zoom lens to make the falls look even larger than they are surely, however then your subject of view turns into extra restricted as you zoom in, thereby proscribing your view to a mere slice of the falls.
One of the simplest ways to seize a singular composition of Victoria Falls is to assume outdoors the body. Don’t restrict your self by what you’ll be able to see by way of the digicam’s viewfinder. Reasonably select one of the best focal size for the scene that you’re trying to seize, after which take as many images as needed to completely seize that scene. Stitching a number of photographs into one panorama is fast and simple lately, and you’ll at all times find yourself with a a lot greater decision picture with a panorama than you’ll with a single picture taken by the identical digicam.
Extra pixels = extra particulars = greater high quality.
The above {photograph} was created by combining two (landscape-format) photographs – each captured with a 50mm lens – and stitching them one above the opposite right into a single vertical panorama (or vertorama). This may not be a completely distinctive composition, however the longer focal size utilized in an try to precisely seize the scale of the falls, together with the wide-angle view, has helped me to create one thing slightly bit completely different from all the pieces else.
So now that you’ve got discovered the least-trodden place to arrange your tripod, and have spent a couple of moments eager about which of your lenses could be greatest to seize the scene, all that is still is to mount your digicam to your tripod, press the shutter, and seize the photographs.
To guard your digicam from the inevitable spray issue, it is strongly recommended that you just place it inside a plastic bag (with a gap reduce in it for the lens to level out). Your lens will get moist, that’s inevitable.
Even on one of the best days through the dry season you would possibly solely have a window interval of 5 or ten seconds earlier than the primary drops begin wetting your lens. This could be sufficient time so that you can take away the lens cap, take a single picture and exchange the cap, however whenever you’re capturing a number of photographs for a panorama, you’ll have to settle for that you can be wiping your lens dry between each single {photograph}.
Shoot, wipe, shoot, wipe, shoot, wipe, shoot, wipe — that ought to grow to be your mantra whereas photographing Victoria Falls.
The picture above is a horizontal panorama, made up of three landscape-format photographs shot at 24mm.
Different Photographic Alternatives
Even when your main motivation for visiting this area is to {photograph} Victoria Falls, there are additionally loads of different fascinating issues for panorama photographers to level their cameras at. The calmer sections of the higher Zambezi present ample alternatives to seize reflective photographs, particularly in direction of the tip of November when the primary storm clouds of the season are beginning to collect and develop in measurement.
A number of native tour operators additionally host sundowner cruises alongside this stretch of the Zambezi, which ought to enchantment to each panorama and wildlife photographers. These cruises often have an “all you’ll be able to eat and drink” coverage – so be warned – they could grow to be a bit rowdy in direction of the tip.
Moreover the sundown cruises on the higher Zambezi, you would possibly wish to think about a game-viewing drive by way of one of many close by nature reserves or discover the bush on a horseback safari. These actions all provide an abundance of fascinating issues for anybody to level their digicam at.
Different Actions
Extra adventurous (and fewer photographically-inclined) guests may entertain themselves by tying their legs to a bungee wire and launching themselves from the 111-meter-high Victoria Falls bridge which spans the gorge proper under the falls. Alternatively, they might expertise the total power of the raging river under the falls by working the rapids in giant inflatable rafts. They might additionally attempt the gorge swing and/or the flying-fox zip-wire, or they might take to the air by chartering a helicopter or microlight.
After which there may be the “Satan’s Pool”.
This pure rock pool can solely be accessed from the Zambian facet, and solely through the dry season. It’s no bigger than a small swimming pool, with solely a skinny rocky ledge stopping you from plummeting over the sting. These of us who’re bordering on the insane can be part of a guided tour to this small pool, to leap from a rock and hopefully not get sucked over the sting. You can be charged effectively in extra of $100 for the pleasure of practically dying.
Much less adventurous guests can keep away from the adrenalin rush and spend their time searching for curios on the native markets, stress-free subsequent to a fishing rod, or taking part in a leisurely spherical of golf. No matter your thrill, you’ll positively discover it at Victoria Falls.
This actually is likely one of the seven pure wonders of the world.
In regards to the writer: Paul Bruins is a semi-retired South Africa-based skilled panorama photographer. The opinions expressed on this article are solely these of the writer. For the previous 20 years, Bruins has labored to discover and {photograph} each nook of his hometown and nation. He has organized and hosted quite a few photographic exhibitions, workshops, and excursions all over the world. His images have additionally received quite a few competitions and awards and have been revealed in calendars, magazines, and books. You’ll find extra of his work on his Flickr and Fb.
