By Tawanda Nyahasha
December 2023 was an exciting month for me. I returned home to Zimbabwe after a two-year absence, with my last visit being in the summer of 2021, when the country was still grappling with COVID-19. Hence, I often found my movement restricted. My visit in December was also the first time I was going to be in Zimbabwe over the festive season since 2015, and to mark the occasion, my family organized a trip to Victoria Falls.
It is with shame that I admit that in the nineteen years I lived in Zimbabwe before I moved to the United States, I had never been to Victoria Falls, one of the seven natural wonders of the world. Of course, I wished to go, but all my years living in Zimbabwe gave me a false sense of time. I felt there was no rush to see it, as I believed Victoria Falls would always be there, and I would always have the opportunity to see it.
I would later find I was wrong in two ways. Of course, I no longer had the opportunity to go to Victoria Falls at will after my move to the United States, and upon my visit there, I discovered I could not have the assurance that it would always be there. I do not wish to alarm or suggest this wonder will cease to exist in as little as ten years. I do believe this wonder will live on, but I do fear that some of its glory might diminish over the years.
Before I state why I believe the might of Victoria Falls will diminish in the upcoming years, I think it is important to still point out that seeing Victoria Falls for the first time, I was wowed beyond belief. The power and majesty of the falling water, the mist rising due to the power of the water, the “rainforest” of the tour where it drizzles constantly even if it is not raining elsewhere. However, as much as I was wowed with what I saw, my mind could not help imagining the what if, to picture the falls differently. When I returned to Zimbabwe, the country was experiencing a drought and massive heat waves. A phenomenon that has unfortunately become all too common. As we walked along the falls, my siblings, who had been there before, kept telling me I was not seeing this wonder at its peak because of the draught. In its full might, dry places would be filled with water, with certain areas needing flashlights, even during the day, because of the mist. Despite all the wonders I was still able to see, I did not experience that, and with draughts becoming more and more frequent, I wonder if anyone else will be able to have this experience.
Apart from the Falls themselves, we also got to see some wildlife. Elephants (Nzou) are rampant in the area. On our drives, we often had to stop our car to give way to a herd of elephants crossing the road. Hippos (Mvurwi) were also rampant. Although we saw the animals in droves, the drought and lack of water have been killing a lot of elephants. With the rains coming later, a lot of elephants were reportedly killed, mostly the old and the young, who were mostly found dead in dried water holes. With the threat of poachers ever existing and the frequent droughts, one cannot help but fear for the survival of these animals.
Photo and video credit: Tawanda Nyahasha
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