Zambezi River Basin

Tourism

The wide variety of landforms and vegetation

zones in the Zambezi basin offer many

spectacular tourist attractions. The major

tourism destinations in the Zambezi basin are

national parks and nature reserves, with wildlife

and scenery as the primary attractions. The

big mammals which draw many tourists to the

region include elephants, buffalo, rhinoceros,

leopards and lions. Tourism, especially game

viewing, sport hunting, and fishing, has become

an increasingly important economic sector in

many of the riparian states in the Zambezi Basin

(Chenje 2000).

The Victoria Falls, on the main section of the

Zambezi River between Zambia and Zimbabwe,

is the major tourist attraction of the basin,

providing water-based tourist activities, game

viewing and dramatic scenic views. Bungee

jumping off the Victoria Falls Bridge, with its

111-metre drop, is also a major attraction. It is

one of the highest commercial jumps in the

world. Considered the most spectacular feature

along the Zambezi, the Victoria Falls is known

locally as

Mosi-oa-Tunya

(or The Smoke that

Thunders), and is one of the Seven Natural

Wonders of the World.

Water-based activities include canoeing,

boating, white-water rafting, scuba diving, and

sport fishing. Most of these activities are carried

out on the main Zambezi River, Lake Kariba and

Lake Malawi/Nyasa/Niassa.

Lions and buffalo are among the Big Five wild animals that are popular with tourists in the Zambezi River Basin.

Bungee jumping off the

Victoria Falls bridge is a

major attraction for tourists

visiting the Zambezi basin.

River rafting down the Zambezi River is seasonal and dependent on rainfall and water levels. Low water level is

frommid-July to the end of January, while high water levels are from February to mid-July.

WWF