ZIMBABWE TOP DESTINATIONS
MOSI-OA-TUNYA NATIONAL PARK
Overview What to See How to get there Climate Map

Background Information

Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park ("The Smoke Which Thunders"), is an UNESCO World Heritage site that is home to one half of the Mosi-oa-Tunya, known worldwide as Victoria Falls on the Zambezi River. The river forms the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe, so the falls are shared by the two countries, and the park is 'twin' to the Victoria Falls National Park on the Zimbabwean side. ‘Mosi-oa-Tunya’ comes from the Kololo or Lozi language and the name is now used throughout Zambia, and in parts of Zimbabwe.The Park covers 66 km2 (25 sq mi) from the Songwe Gorge below the falls. It forms the south-western boundary of the city of Livingstone and has two main sections, each with separate entrances: a wildlife park at its north-western end, and the land adjacent to the immense Victoria Falls, which in the rainy season is the world's largest curtain of falling water. It extends downstream from the falls and to the south-east along the Batoka Gorges.

The wildlife park includes tall riverine forest with palm trees, miombo woodland and grassland with plenty of birds, and animals including Angolan giraffe, Grant's zebra, warthog, sable, eland, Cape buffalo, impala and other antelope. The indigenous (black rhino) was believed extinct in Zambia but has recently been reintroduced. African elephants are sometimes seen in the park when they cross the river in the dry season from the Zimbabwean side. Hippopotamus and crocodile can be seen from the river bank. Vervet monkeys and baboons are common as they are in the rest of the national park outside the wildlife section. Within the wildlife park is the Old Drift cemetery where the first European settlers were buried.

You can visit the Park all year round.