Harare - So have the Victoria Falls – one of the most amazing natural wonders in the world – dried up?
Judging from a panic-stricken e-mail doing the rounds – and which has reached me from a number of concerned readers – the falls are merely a trickle.
The prophets of doom have extrapolated from these photos of parts of the falls that southern Africa faces doom, gloom and destruction, starting with the failure of Kariba Dam (downstream from the falls) to generate electricity.
Unfortunately, for the chain e-mail forwarders, the shock and horror are simply not true.
Last week, African Albida Tourism, a highly regarded operator in Zimbabwe that owns properties and arranges tours and which is especially connected to the Victoria Falls, issued a statement saying the “Smoke That Thunders” – the English translation of the African name for the falls – are “looking spectacular at the moment”.
“The intensity of noise and spray is gathering momentum as the season of high water approaches (April to July),” African Albida Tourism said.
“The forthcoming full moons (March 23, April 22 and May 21) will be the dates to note if wanting to witness the magical lunar rainbow – which appears the night before, night of and night after the full moon. The lunar rainbow is at its best (if the night is clear) when there is sufficient spray to create the moonbow effect.”
African Albida supplied an aerial photograph, taken on March 4, showing the falls in majestic flow.
I had a closer look at the hysterical e-mail and discovered the images of the dry falls came from an American blogger and travel write, Melinda Cousins. She posted them on her site in December 2014, at a time when she said the Falls were coming to the end of a “long dry season”.
Interestingly, those sending the e-mail didn’t include other images from Cousins’s blog in the same month. These showed water flowing over other parts of the falls.
Those behind the e-mail also appear to be ignorant that the water for the falls is from the Zambezi River’s catchment areas in Angola and Zambia and, as African Albida Tourism has pointed out, these floodwaters only now start reaching the falls.
And, most definitely, the best time to see the spectacle is over the next few months.
Saturday Star