A Natural Wonder
The Zambezi River
The Victoria Falls
Formation of the Victoria Falls
People of the Victoria Falls
Enter the Ndebele
Discovery of the Victoria Falls
In Livingstone's Footsteps
Development of the Railway
To the Banks of the Zambezi
Development of the Falls
To The Congo
Development of Tourism
Development of Victoria Falls Town
Recent History
Further Information
Collectables

    
Discover the Victoria Falls with the Zambezi Book Company

To The Victoria Falls

Development of the Victoria Falls

Recent History



The following text is adapted from 'Footsteps Through Time - A History of Travel and Tourism to the Victoria Falls', researched and written by Peter Roberts and published in 2017. Please visit the Zambezi Book Company website for more information.



Into The Future

The Victoria Falls are often compared with those of Niagara, being viewed favourably in comparison by those who find the commercial development of the North American falls as detracting from their natural impact and beauty. With the search for ever increasing tourism arrivals, however, it appears inevitable that pressure will continue to develop further tourism infrastructure, facilities and services on both sides of the river.

Expanded tourism capacity is targeted through a confusion of national, regional and local development strategies, plans and initiatives, including the National Tourism Master Plan, National Tourism Sector Strategy, Vision 2025: National Tourism Recovery and Growth Strategy, Victoria Falls Tourism Development Zone, Special Economic Zone and Victoria Falls Master Plan.

In addition, international agreements such as the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area and U.N.E.S.C.O. Victoria Falls/Mosi-oa-Tunya World Heritage Site Joint Management Plan often highlight conflicting conservation management and tourism or other economic development plans and priorities. Tourism infrastructure and services continue to struggle with existing levels of tourism, with huge investment in the town’s utility and waste services required to meet even current demands.

Unsympathetic and uncontrolled developments continue threaten the fragile nature of the Falls and its surroundings. Heath, writing in the late 1970s, highlighted that the growth of Victoria Falls town had followed a consistent pattern of planning adapting to, and following, development, rather than controlling and limiting it:

“It would be unfortunate if the trend, which has characterised the village throughout this century, of planning reflecting individual enterprise rather than guiding and controlling it, should be allowed to continue.” (Heath, 1977)

Phillipson, writing in the concluding chapter of the second edition of his authoritative text ‘Mosi-oa-Tunya: A Handbook to the Victoria Falls Region,’ published in 1990, expanded on these concerns.

“As the number of visitors to the Victoria Falls steadily increase, the task of preserving the environment becomes progressively more critical and difficult. It must be realised that the requirements of human access, particularly by large numbers of tourists, and of strict conservation are to a certain extent incompatible. The responsible visitor should realise this and do everything in his power to minimise damage to the Falls environment, a considerable part of which has already been sacrificed for his supposed benefit.
“The sensitive visitor will recognise that tourist, commercial and industrial development in the immediate vicinity of the Falls in both Zambia and Zimbabwe already far exceed that which should have ideally have been tolerated. Probably more irrevocable damage to the Falls environment has been done in the last decade than in the whole of the previous century; never again will man be able to see the wild beauty of the Victoria Falls unmarred by his own thoughtless activities. Let us hope that the visitor will ponder on this despoliation, and that the authorities will in future take a more responsible and long-term view of the need for constant surveillance if the beauty and scientific interest of the Victoria Falls are to survive for future generations.” (Phillipson, 1990)

It is, however, a pattern which continues to this day, with controversial new developments seemingly often overriding environmental concerns and planning guidelines. Once developments are established they inevitably evolve and expand, creating far larger impacts than when originally planned. The protected area surrounding the Falls has been steadily eroded over the decades as the various reserves and protected areas have been re-designated and areas of human settlement have grown, with increasing impacts on the surrounding buffer zones.

Commenting on the wider tourism development of the Falls, Ross Kennedy, Chief Executive of Africa Albida Tourism, highlighted the responsibility to manage growth in a balanced manner:

“Some may believe Victoria Falls is better left as it is while others will embrace the counter argument that ‘growth is necessary and good.’ But what matters is that growth is inevitable, so both the public and the private sector must be responsible, accountable and caring in managing such expansion.” (Victoria Falls Bits and Blogs, November 2015)

Indefinite growth and ever increasing tourist arrivals, however, is not only undesirable, but also an economic fallacy, and levels will have to be capped at acceptable, and sustainable, limits - unless the magic of the Falls is to be totally eclipsed by the hand of man. The alternative is a continuous band of never-ending tourism development surrounding the Falls - the exact opposite to the protected conservation zone originally envisaged by the Chartered Company’s Administration so many years ago and perhaps more akin to the industrial future vision imagined by Leopold Moore in 1907.

Under Pressure

The Victoria Falls remain one of Africa’s top tourism attractions, with the facilities and services on both sides of the river developing in recent decades into modern first-class destinations of global standing. The immediate area of the Falls survive, at first impression, preserved in their pristine and natural state - but look closely and the inevitable signs of ‘progress’ and development surround them.

Telephone towers can be seen on the skyline (rather unsuccessfully disguised as giant palm trees) when viewing the Falls, hotel buildings lurk on the horizon and tin roofs glint in the sun. Upstream of the Falls lodges overlook the river-frontage, where river cruise boats race upstream each evening, jostling for prime position as the sun sets over the Zambezi. Helicopters and microlight planes buzz overhead from dawn to dusk, the latter often swooping low over the river and islands above the Falls, disturbing wildlife and people. Downstream power lines cross the gorge and waste-water overflows drain into the river above and below the Falls.

Whilst wider infrastructure and utility services struggle to keep pace with ever increasing population demands, tourism developments continue to grow and expand, with increasing pressure and competition to develop new activities and services to attract yet more tourists and generate successively higher revenues. Within the global tourism sector a new buzzword, overtourism, has evolved in recent years in response to the negative impacts of excessive tourism upon destinations.

New hotel and tourism developments are continuously proposed, old proposals such as the Maramba River development, which caused so much controversy in 2006, have been resurrected, with Zambian President Edgar Lungu performing an unveiling and ground-breaking ceremony at the site on 3rd July 2020 (Victoria Falls Bits and Blogs, August 2020c). In April 2021 Radisson Hotel Group announced that it would operate the management of the hotel, to be called Radisson Blu Resort Mosi-oa-Tunya and due to open in late 2022 (Victoria Falls Bits and Blogs, April 2021).

Despite being repeatedly rejected by U.N.E.S.C.O. as an unsuitable development, the tourism observation wheel project has, according to news reports, acquired land in the hydro-electric station and supporting buildings located on the north bank - within the World Heritage Site and overlooking the Falls and gorges (Victoria Falls Bits and Blogs, June 2020). If developed Zimbabwe would no doubt soon consider a similar project of its own.

In addition to the obvious direct impacts of development on the immediate environment of the Falls, larger, more complex and challenging issues threaten to change the very nature of the river and Falls themselves. Wider threats include deforestation, with illegal poaching for firewood, construction and curio carvings a significant local problem; water quality threatened by sewage discharges from human settlements; water extraction and lower river flow levels, with the fragile habitat of the Falls Rainforest at threat from diminished volumes of localised spray during the dry season; the introduction and spread of non-native invasive plant species which again threaten the ecology of the Rainforest; and the spectre of the proposed Batoka Gorge dam development downstream, which threatens to flood the spectacular gorges below the Falls.

Despite its U.N.E.S.C.O. World Heritage Site status, there is no doubt that the Victoria Falls and immediate surrounding areas are under sustained threat from the most intensive development pressures they have ever faced, on both sides of the river. Let us hope, however, that money does not do all the talking when it comes to the future development of the Falls, and that the priceless natural aspects of this global wonder, including the wilderness which surrounds them and wildlife that frequents them, are valued and preserved for future generations. There is a saying often applied to natural areas - ‘take only photographs, leave only footprints.’ We owe it to future generations to ensure the footprints we leave today at the Falls are as transient and ephemeral as possible.

Next page: Image Gallery

Further Reading

Roberts, P. (2021) Footsteps Through Time - A History of Travel and Tourism to the Victoria Falls. Zambezi Book Company.

Footsteps Through Time - A History of Travel and Tourism to the Victoria Falls


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Discover the Victoria Falls with the Zambezi Book Company

'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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