Victoria Falls National Park

Victoria Falls National Park, national park in western Zimbabwe covering an area of 20 sq km (7.7 sq mi). Here the Zambezi River enters a gorge on the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia, creating Victoria Falls, one of the largest waterfalls in the world. Victoria Falls was given protected status by the British colonial authorities in 1931, and was designated a national park in 1952. The falls are 1,700 m (5,600 ft) wide and the distance from their top to the base of the gorge, which contains a whirlpool known as the Boiling Pot, ranges from 61 m (200 ft) to 128 m (420 ft). The park contains a rich variety of plant life, including ilala palms, fig trees, ebonies, mahoganies, and blood lilies, and animal life, such as baboons, monkeys, leopards, crocodiles, and warthogs.

The local inhabitants' name for the falls, Mosi-oa-Tunya (“smoke that thunders”), is also the name of a national park in Zambia with which Victoria Falls National Park shares a border. The name by which the falls are more widely known was given to them in honor of Queen Victoria by Scottish explorer David Livingstone, who explored the area in 1855.