Photograph by Christian Heeb, laif/Redux Site: Mosi-oa-Tunya
(Victoria Falls) Location: Zambia and Zimbabwe Year Designated:
1989 Reason: This waterfall is among the most impressive to be
found anywhere in the world. * * * This legendary waterfall is
among the biggest, and most awe-inspiring, on the planet. The
Zambezi River is more than 1.25 miles (2 kilometers) wide when
it cascades over the lip of a large basalt plateau and plunges
as much as 354 feet (108 meters). The flow has been slicing
slowly through this plateau for some two million years. During
this time the river has slowly retreated and the remnants of
earlier, ancient falls can be seen in the gorges downstream from
the current cataract. The falls generate mists that can be
spotted from more than a dozen miles (20 kilometers) away. Famed
Scottish explorer David Livingstone dubbed this waterfall
Victoria Falls; its older, Kololo name, Mosi-oa Tunya, means
"the smoke that thunders.” The mists also sustain a rain forest-
like ecosystem adjacent to th