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Victoria Falls.

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The Great Zambezi River runs through southern Africa.

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The massive spray ahead in the distance is the Victoria Falls.

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The rainy season finishes in May and the volume of the river water reaches its peak.

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Spray rises up from the waterfall basin, covering the whole area in mist.

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It should be possible to have a panoramic view from here, but not at all.

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To have a full view, visitors have to wait till the dry season, when the water volume

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decreases.

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The waterfall is about 1,700 metres wide and drops about 110 metres.

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The width of the gorge where the water falls is only about 100 metres.

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This is Dan River of the Falls.

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While the river above the falls is slow and steady, Dan River zigzags through narrow gorges.

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There used to be a waterfall over this steep cliff.

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The fall has been moving upstream over time.

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About 180 million years ago, magma spewed out of the ground and created a basalt plateau.

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When the plateau cooled down, it solidified and a countless number of crevices were formed.

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Later the plateau was submerged under a lake where mud and decaying matter were deposited

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between the cracks.

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The plateau rose again and those deposits became soft sedimentary rocks.

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The Zambezi River started to run across the plateau later on.

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The river eroded away the sedimentary rocks at the most downstream area of the plateau

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and the first waterfall was created.

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Gradually sedimentary rocks were eroded one after another and the fall slowly made its

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way upstream.

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This is where the first waterfall was formed about 80 kilometres downstream from the current

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one.

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It could be described as a 200,000 year old waterfall fossil.

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This is where the second fall was. It is believed to date back to 180,000 years ago.

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The current fall is the eighth. The front edge arose at a rate of 10 centimetres a year.

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Upriver we can see evidence of new cracks which could become the next waterfall.

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It is the small gorge seen in the centre of this shot.

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When the next fall is made the last one ends its roll and becomes a gorge.

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The long journey of the Victoria Falls still goes on.