To The Victoria Falls
Discovery of the Victoria Falls
Known to the local inhabitants of the region for centuries, the majestic natural wonder of the Victoria Falls was first brought to the attention of the wider world by the famous Scottish missionary and explorer Dr David Livingstone in 1855.
In mid-1851 Livingstone and his travelling companion William Oswell were exploring north into the unmapped interior, eventually reaching a large river which the inhabitants living along its wide reaches called the Liambai and which Livingstone correctly identified as the Zambezi, previously known only to Europeans by its lower stretches and great delta on the east coast.
Befriending the Makalolo chief Sebetwane, who held power in the region, they were told of a great waterfall some distance downstream, although they did not travel to visit them on this occasion. Livingstone later recorded:
“Of these we had often heard since we came into the country; indeed, one of the questions asked by Sebituane [in 1851] was, ‘Have you smoke that sounds in your country?’ They [the Makalolo] did not go near enough to examine them, but, viewing them with awe at a distance, said, in reference to the vapour and noise, ‘Mosi oa tunya’ (smoke does sound there). It was previously called Shongwe, the meaning of which I could not ascertain. The word for a 'pot' resembles this, and it may mean a seething caldron, but I am not certain of it.” (Livingstone, 1857)
Journey Downstream
It was not until 1855, after first exploring upstream and a route across to the west coast, that Livingstone returned to the Zambezi and finally journeyed downstream, escorted by Sebetwane’s successor, Chief Sekeletu. Travelling by canoe and then walking along the north bank to avoid the Katambora Rapids, Sekeletu arranged a canoe and local boatman to take Livingstone the final distance downstream to the waterfall.
On 16th November 1855 David Livingstone was being escorted down the Zambezi River by Chief Sekeletu, accompanied by some 200 Makalolo assistants, on his way to the east coast of Africa and the completion of his epic transverse of the continent from west to east coast.
Travelling downstream, Livingstone was told of local belief in a river spirit-serpent (widespread across central Africa):
"The Barotse believe that at a certain part of the river a tremendous monster lies hid, that will catch a canoe and hold it motionless in spite of the efforts of the paddlers. They believe that some of them possess the knowledge of the proper prayer to lay the monster.” (Livingstone, 1857, p.517)
Livingstone described the journey in detail, made both by boat and also walking along the north bank in sections to avoid the rapids, downstream to Kalai Island, about 10 kilometres above the Falls.
"Having descended about ten miles, we came to the island of Nampene, at the beginning of the rapids, where we were obliged to leave the canoes and proceed along the banks on foot. The next evening we slept opposite the island of Chondo, and, then crossing the Lekone or Lekwine, early the following morning were at the island of Sekote, called Kalai.
"It is large enough to contain a considerable town. On the northern side I found the kotla [fortress/palace] of the elder Sekote, garnished with numbers of human skulls mounted on poles: a large heap of the crania of hippopotami, the tusks untouched except by time, stood on one side. At a short distance, under some trees, we saw the grave of Sekote, ornamented with seventy large elephants' tusks planted round it with the points turned inward, and there were thirty more placed over the resting-places of his relatives." (Livingstone, 1857, p.517-8)
Mosi-oa-Tunya
Sekeletu arranged a canoe and local boatman to take Livingstone the final distance downstream to the waterfall.
A diary entry, in one of the rough notebooks which he wrote up once or twice a week, reads matter-of-factly:
"Musioatunya bears SSE from Sekota islet after 20 minutes sail thence on 16th November, 1855, saw three or five large columns of vapour rising 100 or more feet"
Livingstone later wrote up more detailed notes in his journal, edited and published as 'Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa' in 1857:
"After twenty minutes' sail from Kalai we came in sight, for the first time, of the columns of vapour appropriately called 'smoke,' rising at a distance of five or six miles, exactly as when large tracts of grass are burned in Africa. Five columns now arose, and, bending in the direction of the wind, they seemed placed against a low ridge covered with trees; the tops of the columns at this distance appeared to mingle with the clouds. They were white below, and higher up became dark, so as to simulate smoke very closely." (Livingstone, 1857, p.519)
The Victoria Falls of the Zambesi River (from Livingstone's Missionary Travels 1857) This etching was commissioned by the publisher from an artist in London, who having never seen the Falls relied on Livingstone's written descriptions to detail the scene. Livingstone noted in the text that "The artist has a good idea of the scene, but, by way of explanation, he has shown more of the depth of the fissure than is visible, except by going close to the edge"
Scenes so Lovely
Livingstone was enchanted by the beauty of the island studded river, its forested fringes and exotic wildlife, recording emotively:
"The whole scene was extremely beautiful; the banks and islands dotted over the river are adorned with sylvan vegetation of great variety of colour and form. At the period of our visit several trees were spangled over with blossoms. There, towering over all, stands the great burly baobab, each of whose arms would form the trunk of a large tree, besides groups of graceful palms, which with their feathery-shaped leaves depicted on the sky, lean their beauty to the scene. Some trees resemble the great spreading oak, others assume the character of our own elms and chestnuts; but no one can imagine the beauty of the view from anything witnessed in England. It had never been seen before by European eyes; but scenes so lovely must have been gazed upon by angels in their flight." (Livingstone, 1857, p.519)
This last passage has often been misquoted in reference to the Falls themselves, but it was the stretches of the river upstream of the Falls which first fired Livingstone’s imagination. Of the Falls themselves he would later write it “is a rather hopeless task to endeavour to convey an idea of it in words” (Livingstone and Livingstone, 1865).
Most Wonderful Sight
On 16th November 1855 Livingstone was guided to a small island on the very lip of the Falls.
"When about half a mile from the falls, I left the canoe by which we had come down thus far, and embarked in a lighter one, with men well acquainted with the rapids, who, by passing down the centre of the stream in the eddies and still places caused by many jutting rocks, brought me to an island situated in the middle of the river, and on the edge of the lip over which the water rolls. In coming hither there was danger of being swept down by the streams which rushed along on each side of the island; but the river was now low, and we sailed where it is totally impossible to go when the water is high. But, though we had reached the island, and were within a few yards of the spot, a view from which would solve the whole problem, I believe that no one could perceive where the vast body of water went; it seemed to lose itself in the earth, the opposite lip of the fissure into which it disappeared being only 80 feet distant." (Livingstone, 1857)
Scrambling through vegetation to "the very edge of the lip over which the water rolls," Livingstone struggled to understand the scale of what lay before him:
“At least I did not comprehend it until, creeping with awe to the verge, I peered down into a large rent which had been made from bank to bank of the broad Zambesi, and saw that a stream of a thousand yards broad leaped down a hundred feet [30.5 m] and then became suddenly compressed into a space of fifteen or twenty yards... the most wonderful sight I had witnessed in Africa.” (Livingstone, 1857, p.520)
Livingstone was perhaps deliberately cautious in his estimates, adding: “Whoever may come after me will not, I trust, have reason to say I have indulged in exaggeration.” He seriously underestimated the scale of the Falls, which span 1,708 metres (5,604 feet or 1,868 yards) and drop up to 108 metres (355 feet).
Of the Falls he would later write that it “is a rather hopeless task to endeavour to convey an idea of it in words” (Livingstone and Livingstone, 1865, p.252).
Sacred Island Shrines
On this first visit Livingstone recorded that three sites at the Falls were used by the three local Leya chiefs for offerings to the ‘Barimo,’ but identifies only one of these sites - now known as Livingstone Island, recording the following in his 'Missionary Travels' on his first arrival and sight of the Falls from this island on its very edge.
“At three spots near these Falls, one of them the island in the middle, on which we were, three Batoka chiefs offered up prayers and sacrifices to the Barimo. They chose their places of prayer within the sound of the roar of the cataract, and in sight of the bright bows in the cloud.
“They must have looked upon the scene with awe. Fear may have induced the selection. The river itself is to them mysterious.
“The words of the canoe-song are,
"The Leeambye! Nobody knows
Whence it comes and whither it goes."
“The play of colors of the double iris on the cloud, seen by them elsewhere only as the rainbow, may have led them to the idea that this was the abode of Deity. Some of the Makololo... looked upon the same sign with awe. When seen in the heavens it is named 'motse oa barimo' - the pestle of the gods.
“Here they could approach the emblem, and see it stand steadily above the blustering uproar below - a type of Him who sits supreme - alone unchangeable, though ruling over all changing things. But, not aware of His true character, they had no admiration of the beautiful and good in their bosoms. They did not imitate His benevolence, for they were a bloody, imperious crew, and Sebituane performed a noble service in the expulsion from their fastnesses of these cruel 'Lords of the Isles' [Sekute]"
"Having feasted my eyes long on the beautiful sight, I returned to my friends at Kalai, and saying to Sekeletu that he had nothing else worth showing in his country, his curiosity was excited to visit it the next day." (Livingstone, 1857, p.523-4)
Nature's Nursery
Livingstone returned to the island the following day in the company of Sekeletu and several Makalolo.
"Sekeletu acknowledged to feeling a little nervous at the probability of being sucked into the gulf before reaching the island. His companions amused themselves by throwing stones down, and wondered to see them diminishing in size, and even disappearing, before they reached the water at the bottom." (Livingstone, 1857, p.524)
Livingstone spent most of this second day planting and garden of coffee and fruit trees which he hoped would grow under the spray of the Falls.
"I had another object in view in my return to the island. I observed that it was covered with trees, the seeds of which had probably come down with the stream from the distant north, and several of which I had seen nowhere else, and every now and then the wind wafted a little of the condensed vapor over it, and kept the soil in a state of moisture, which caused a sward of grass, growing as green as on an English lawn. I selected a spot - not too near the chasm... but somewhat back, and made a little garden. I there planted about a hundred peach and apricot stones, and a quantity of coffee-seeds. I had attempted fruit-trees before, but... they were always allowed, to wither, after having vegetated, by being forgotten. I bargained for a hedge with one of the Makololo, and if he is faithful, I have great hopes of Mosi-oa-tunya’s abilities as a nurseryman. My only source of fear is the hippopotami. When the garden was prepared, I cut my initials on a tree, and the date 1855. This was the only instance in which I indulged in this piece of vanity. The garden stands in front, and were there no hippopotami, I have no doubt but this will be the parent of all the gardens, which may yet be in this new country.” (Livingstone, 1857, p.524-5)
Fortunately Livingstone's garden of non-native trees did not grow, the hippopotami doing their job as nature's caretakers made sure of that - although one can only wonder what the Leya thought of his 'cultivation' of their sacred island shrine. Despite this failure, the island became known as Garden Island and a popular destination for early European visitors to the Falls, with several of those that followed adding their initials to the 'Livingstone Tree.' Today the island is popularly known after the missionary himself, Livingstone Island.
To the local Leya this island was known as Kazeruka, whilst the first Conservator of the Falls, F W Sykes, later recorded that it was also known as Kempongo, meaning 'Goat' Island (Sykes, 1905).
It is one of only two significant islands which breach the length of the Falls - the other, Boaruka (or Boruka), signifying 'divider of the waters,' now more commonly known as Cataract Island, is larger and located at the western end of the Falls.
Today conservationists and ecologists would rightly shudder at the thought of planting 'alien exotic' species in such a pristine natural wilderness (and indeed great amounts of effort every year go into controlling invasive non-native species such as Lantana) - and the carving of initials into the bark of trees is also rightly prohibited in the National Park. But he was right in thinking of the great waterfall as a careful nurseryman - just of nature's garden, not man's. Under the shadow of the never ending spray from the Falls is nourished the 'rainforest,' the localised and verdant jungle, rich in rare and vulnerable flora.
Named in English
On his explorations Livingstone carefully recorded local names for geographic landmarks. Here, however, he also named them in English - the Victoria Falls - in honour of his monarch, the reigning British Queen Victoria.
“Being persuaded that Mr. Oswell and myself were the very first Europeans who ever visited the Zambesi in the centre of the country, and that this is the connecting link between the known and unknown portions of that river, I decided to use the same liberty as the Makololo did, and gave the only English name I have affixed to any part of the country.” (Livingstone, 1857)
The Victoria Falls (etching)
The Scottish missionary incorrectly concluded that the Victoria Falls were the result of a fault line in the rock being pulled apart by some great cataclysmic event to create a fissure into which the river was swallowed:
"The Victoria Falls have been formed by a crack right across the river, in the hard, black, basaltic rock which there formed the bed of the Zambesi... When the mighty rift occurred, no change of level took place in the two parts of the bed of the river thus rent asunder, consequently, in coming down the river... the water suddenly disappears, and we see the opposite side of the cleft, with grass and trees growing where once the river ran, on the same level as that part of its bed on which we sail." (Livingstone and Livingstone, 1865)
His theory was widely accepted and descriptions by subsequent writers and artists were influenced by this assumption in their interpretation of the Falls.
Epic Journey
Livingstone continued his epic journey following the Zambezi downstream to the east coast, completing a 3,000 mile (4,828 km) trek from the west to east coasts of the continent in the process. Returning to England Livingstone’s accounts of his African travels caught the imagination of Victorian Britain. His first book, ‘Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa’ was published in 1857 and became an instant best-seller. Livingstone was awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Geographical Society of London for his explorations and scientific observations.
Livingstone envisioned the Zambezi River as the transport route by which the central regions of Africa would be opened up to Christian values and trade, describing the Zambezi as ‘God’s Highway.’ But his dreams of ‘Christianity, Commerce and Civilisation’ - his personal motto - were dashed by the impassable gorges and rapids of the Middle Zambezi sections below the Victoria Falls.
Many followed in Livingstone’s footsteps to the Falls. Yet few would have predicted that within fifty years of Livingstone first setting sight on the great waterfall that they would be connected to the Cape by rail and the gorges below traversed by the highest railway bridge in the world.
First to the Falls?
It is accepted that stories of the existence of the falls had reached European settlers in the south some 15 years before Livingstone first set eyes on them, and there has been much debate on if Livingstone actually was the first European to visit Falls.
Writing in the The South African Handbook (No33) ‘The Victoria Falls’, and published in the early 1900’s, George Lacy records that:
“Englishmen in the south had, as early as about 1840, heard reports of the existence, far, far away in the north, of a phenomenon called ‘Mosivatunya’, (the smoke that sounds), but little attention had been paid to them. They were brought by Bechunaland hunters… who had ventured as far as the Chobe branch of the Zambezi, where, at Linyanti, dwelt the Makalolo. No European, however, was within a hundred miles of them until 1851. In that year, W C Oswell and David Livingstone reached Linyanti, and three weeks later S K Edwards and L H Wilson, and these four were the first in the district. None of them, however, made any attempt to visit the Falls. Oswell was on a hunting expedition, and Livingstone was his interpreter and wagon manager; Edwards and Wilson were hunters and traders.”
He concludes that Livingstone was the first European to see the Falls, and as he himself was one of the early visitors, having visited the Falls in November 1869, his contemporary record is significant.
Numerous authors have addressed the issue, and in particular the claims including Karel Trichardt in 1838, Jan Viljoen, Erasmus Jacobs and Engelbrecht Viljoen, 1851 and W H Pretorius and Stoffel Snyman in 1855.
However in 1939 the Afrikaaner author Servaas Le Roux wrote "Pioneers and Sportsmen of South Africa 1760-1890". Le Roux's purpose was to highlight the discoveries of Afrikaaners, but on p119 he wrote:
“For many years past, especially amongst people who do not draw a clear distinction between vague and ill-founded impression and a properly substantiated fact, there has been prevalent an idea that the Victoria Falls had been visited by European hunters before Dr Livingstone first saw them in November, 1855...
"I have no hesitation in saying, after many years of careful investigation of the claims of all the possible visitors to the Falls before Livingstone, that there are no grounds whatsoever for believing that anyone but Livingstone was the first European to see them". (LeRoux, 1939)
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Recommended Reading
Livingstone, David (1857), Missionary Travels and Researches in Southern Africa, London.
Henderson, L (unknown) John Murray and the Publication of David Livingstone's Missionary Travels (available online here http://www.livingstoneonline.ucl.ac.uk/companion.php?id=HIST2)
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'To The Victoria Falls' aims to bring you the wonder of the Victoria Falls through a look at its natural and human history.
This website has been developed using information researched from a wide variety of sources, including books, magazines and websites etc too numerous to mention or credit individually, although many key references are identified on our References page. Many of the images contained in this website have been sourced from old photographic postcards and publications and no infringement of copyright is intended. We warmly welcome any donations of photographs or information to this website.
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