Some years ago, you needed a raincoat to stand in the rainforest at the lip of the Victoria Falls so as not to get soaked by the spray from the magnificent waterfalls.
While Australians have understandably been fixated on the terrible drought on our own continent, spare a thought for the plight facing the next continent to the left.
This writer can recall, some years ago, standing in the rainforest at the lip of the Victoria Falls wearing a raincoat so as not to get soaked by the spray from the natural wonder known as "The Smoke that Thunders". A tourist walks along a path in the dried rainforest at the Victoria Falls in November. A series of heatwaves has dried most of the vegetation surrounding the UNESCO world heritage site.The Victoria Falls, Africa's biggest, lies between the southern African nations of Zambia and Zimbabwe. It is formed as the waters of the Zambezi River plummet over a precipice 1.7 kilometres wide by more than 100 metres deep.
But now, the cliffs, hidden behind an avalanche of water when the river is in full flow, stand naked.While the falls have not run completely dry, Elisha Moyo, principal climate change researcher at Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Environment, Climate and Tourism, has sounded a dire warning., Moyo said the average flow of water over the falls this year was down by almost 50 per cent.Credit:Normally, 2000 cubic metres of water a second passes over the falls but the average this year was 1200, he said.
He also said the low flows were affecting animals down and upstream as well as hydro-electricity generation in both countries.
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