Beyond the Falls: Things to do in Victoria Falls That Justify the Annual Leave

Before my trip, I didn’t know that there are so many things to do in Victoria Falls that go far beyond standing at the edge of the world’s largest waterfall getting completely soaked, although that is absolutely on the list and every bit as extraordinary as you are imagining. What surprises most people is how much is waiting beyond the falls themselves.

Seven days between Zimbabwe and Zambia taught me that this is not a one-sight destination. It is a full experience that rewards every day you give it, and for anyone working with limited annual leave and high expectations, it delivers on both counts. I was also impressed how great Zambia and Zimbabwe are and I am looking forward another trip one day to explore them more.

Here is how to fill those days in Victoria Falls properly.

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Top things to do in Victoria Falls beyond the obvious

I had a week to decide what things to do in Victoria Falls after visiting the famous waterfall. My second priority was wildlife as I absolutely love safaris. While it is not the top destination for game drives, it can still be quite memorable. On top of that, Victoria Falls is one of the best adventure spots in southern Africa. So, here you have a list of things to do in Victoria Falls that will make your holidays worth the time.

Start With the Falls Themselves

Before anything else, visit the falls on both sides. Three days on the Zimbabwe side and four on the Zambian side gave me a complete picture of what Victoria Falls actually is, and the two experiences are different enough to justify both. Zimbabwe gives you the dramatic frontal views and the iconic photographs. Zambia gives you the river, the adventure and considerably more value for money.

Each visit to the falls does not take longer than a few hours, but it is worth staying for a couple of days on each side not to waste time on commute. There are also many guided tours, that make it very easy for you.

👉 Read my full comparison of Zimbabwe vs Zambia Victoria Falls here

White Water Rafting on the Zambezi

The Zambezi below the falls offers some of the most challenging white water rafting in the world. I’ve heard so many opinions that this is an amazing activity to do in Victoria Falls, but I wasn’t that adventurous. The rapids are serious, this is not a gentle float downstream, and the scenery of the gorge around you makes the whole thing feel like something from another world. I did not raft on this trip, choosing to keep things at a slower pace, but the people I met who did it were unanimous: it is extraordinary and the most physically demanding fun you will have at Victoria Falls.

It is accessible from both sides and most operators handle the logistics including transport to and from the put-in point.

Sunset Cruise on the Zambezi

If the falls are the main event, the sunset cruise is the perfect supporting act. We did ours on the Zimbabwe side and it was one of the highlights of the entire trip. I did not find many options in Zambia for such a cruise, but Zimbabwe has plenty- from simple boat tours, to full on dinners at the sunset. Our tour offered unlimited drinks and some light food- all very good.

We chose this one and it was amazing! We loved it so much, that we actually booked it for another evening to repeat. A couple of hours on the Zambezi as the sun drops, with a drink in hand, watching hippos hippos surfacing nearby. The light on the river at that hour is extraordinary and the pace of it: slow, quiet, completely unhurried. Is exactly what you need after a day of spray and noise at the falls.

It is also the kind of experience that feels equally right whether you are travelling as a couple, with friends or solo. Nobody has a bad time on a Zambezi sunset cruise.

Microlight Flight

If the helicopter feels like a significant investment, the microlight is the more intimate and in some ways more exhilarating alternative. Flying in an open microlight aircraft over the falls and the gorge at low altitude gives you a completely different experience from the helicopter, but it is extremely noisy. People who have done both often say the microlight is the more memorable of the two. Worth considering if you want the aerial perspective without the the high price.

Boma Dinner and Drum Show

We had the Boma dinner during our stay at Avani Victoria Falls. A four-course meal of local Zimbabwean dishes including game meats, traditional stews and, if you are feeling adventurous, mopane worms. The drumming and dancing performances pull the entire room in, by the end of the evening everyone is participating whether they planned to or not. Some hotels offer boma dinner, but you can also book one yourself.

Chobe National Park Day Trip- Botswana

Just across the border in Botswana, less than an hour from Victoria Falls, Chobe National Park is one of the best places in Africa to see elephants in large numbers (although we didn’t see that many). We did the full day trip combining a game drive and a boat safari on the Chobe River. We did not see as many animals as I was counting on, but it was still quite beautiful. We saw one lion (I really thought there would be more), tons of giraffes, impalas, kudus and many beautiful birds.

But the river cruise adds a different dimension to the game drive. It was just spectacular. From the water you see the same landscape from a completely different angle and the wildlife behaves differently when approached by boat than by vehicle. We saw many elephants, including babies, drinking from the river, crocodiles and elephants bathing.

If you are at Victoria Falls and have a spare day, this is exactly how to use it. You are already there. Not going would be a mistake. You can either do it from Zambia or Zimbabwe, it doesn’t really matter, but I was told that the road is better from Zambia.

Helicopter Flight Over the Falls

We did not do the helicopter flight on this trip. We had done it once before in New Zealand and this time we made a deliberate choice to slow down, do fewer things and do them more thoroughly. No regrets at all about that decision.

That said, seeing Victoria Falls from the air is genuinely on another level. The scale of the falls only becomes clear from above, from the ground you see sections of it, from the air you see the full width of it dropping into the gorge all at once. If it is your first time at Victoria Falls and you have not done a helicopter flight somewhere else recently, book it. The Flight of Angels, as it is known locally, is one of the more extraordinary things you can do here and the photographs are unlike anything you will get from the ground.

Game Drive and Rhino Walk in Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park- Zambia

On the Zambian side, Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park sits right next to Livingstone and offers something genuinely rare: a guided walking experience with white rhinos. The rhino population here is small and carefully protected (they told us that only 9 individuals at the moment, one got killed by s track not long ago), which makes the walking encounter feel significant.

Getting close to a white rhino on foot, with nothing between you and it except a guide and security guard who clearly knows what they are doing, is a different kind of wildlife experience from anything you get through a vehicle window. You are only allowed to stay there for a few minutes not to disturb the rhinos, but it is a really special experience.

The park also has good general game viewing on a standard game drive, with elephants, zebras, giraffes and various bird species along the Zambezi. Thhere are no cats there though. A morning here followed by an afternoon at the falls or a sunset cruise makes for a perfectly balanced day on the Zambian side. We went for an afternoon drive, which was really nice.

Devil’s Pool

On the Zambian side, between roughly August and January when water levels drop sufficiently, it is possible to swim in a natural rock pool right at the lip of the falls and look over the edge. The name alone tells you what kind of experience this is. I did not do it on this trip but the reviews and the photographs speak for themselves. If your visit falls within the right season and this kind of experience is your thing, book it early as slots are limited and it sells out consistently.

Watching Wildlife From Your Hotel

This is one of those things that nobody tells you before you arrive and that ends up being one of the most memorable parts of the trip.

At Palm River Hotel in Victoria Falls town, the garden sits directly on an elephant corridor. We watched elephants walk through the grounds from our breakfast terrace, unhurried and entirely unbothered by the hotel around them. We planned to do a different activity, but the elephants kept us in the hotel the whole morning, that’s how amazing it was. It is the kind of thing that happens while you are having breakfast or sitting with a drink in the evening and makes you realize that in this part of the world, the wildlife does not respect the boundaries between the bush and everything else. Which is exactly as it should be.

At Avani Victoria Falls Resort on the Zambian side, animals wander the grounds all the time. Warthogs, monkeys, zebras, giraffes, impalas, various birds- the line between the hotel and the national park is genuinely blurred in the best possible way. Sometimes, I had a giraffe at my balcony. Avani shares the space with Royal Livingstone by Anantara, where zebras graze on the lawn while you have breakfast on the terrace overlooking the Zambezi. It sounds almost too good to be true and it is completely real. Staying here means the wildlife experience begins the moment you walk out of your room and does not stop until you leave.

Bungee Jump From the Victoria Falls Bridge

The bridge connecting Zimbabwe and Zambia over the gorge is worth crossing simply for the views. The bungee jump from it is for those who want to make the crossing considerably more memorable. One of the most iconic bungee locations in the world, with the gorge and the rapids far below and the falls visible upstream. I tried to take a picture, but the falls were spraying so hard that it was impossible. Worth knowing that you can walk across the bridge without jumping, which I would recommend regardless, the view from the middle of that bridge is extraordinary.

How Many Days Do You Need for victoria falls and around

Seven days split between Zimbabwe and Zambia gave us the time to do everything on this list without rushing any of it. Three days on the Zimbabwe side and four on the Zambian side was the right balance for us. We even had plenty time to relax in our amazing hotels. If you have less time, five days is the realistic minimum for doing both sides justice alongside a couple of the activities above. Less than that and you will leave feeling like you only scratched the surface.

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