Victoria Falls slows to a trickle
Victoria Falls slows to a trickle, fuelling fears of climate change
Posted on 09.12.2019
For decades Victoria Falls has drawn millions of holidaymakers to Zimbabwe and Zambia to watch southern Africa’s Zambezi River cascade down 100 metres into a gash in the earth.
But the worst drought in a century has slowed the waterfalls to a trickle, fuelling fears climate change could kill one of the region’s biggest tourist attractions.
While they typically slow down during the dry season, officials said this year had brought an unprecedented decline in water levels.
“In previous years, when it gets dry, it’s not to this extent. This is our first experience of seeing it like this,” Dominic Nyambe, a seller of tourist handicrafts in his 30s said outside his shop in Livingstone, on the Zambian side.
“It affects us, because … clients … can see on the internet [that the falls are low] … We don’t have so many tourists.”
Key points
- Victoria Falls usually attracts millions of tourists but recently many have arrived disappointed
- Not all scientists categorically blame climate change, but say it’s likely responsible
- As the Zambezi River gets hotter, 437 cubic million cubic metres of water evaporate every second
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