What would Victoria Falls be without the gushing overflow of water pouring over the cliff? Drought has driven the water flow at Africa’s Victoria Falls to its lowest level in almost 25 years.
Flow has dropped to 3,850 cubic feet per second, according to Bloomberg. The lowest flow on record is 3,496 cubic feet per second, recorded in October 1986, according to the Zambezi River Authority.
Victoria Falls nestled on the Zambezi between Zambia and Zimbabwe, tourism activities on and around this majestic falls are at risk. The falls often dry up on the Zambian side, but this year has been worse than most.
Parts of southern and western Zambia have received their lowest seasonal rainfall totals since the benchmark year of 1981. Zimbabwe also has been in the grips of a severe drought.
Victoria Falls, which the locals call Mosi-oa-Tunya, or The Smoke That Thunders, is a major tourist draw for the two countries, as is the rainforest nourished by the falls’ mist.
“Some of the tourism products that we boast of can be a thing of the past if climate change and global warming are not quickly addressed,” Godfrey Koti, a spokesman for the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority, told Bloomberg.
Clement Mukwasi, president of the Employers Association for Tourism and Safari Operators, said, “Rafting activities and visits to the rain forest have declined. There isn’t much that we can do except for us as an industry to promote awareness of climate change.”
There may be some relief on the horizon. The dry season is coming to an end and rains are expected to begin soon.
