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Experience

Livingstone Island and Devil's Pool

A boat to the island at the lip of the falls, a meal on it, and a swim at the very edge when the river allows.

At a glanceOn water
How longUp to two hoursOne to two hours on the island, depending on the meal
How hardLightA short boat ride and a walk over rock; the pool, when open, means swimming with the guides
SeasonWater permittingOnly when the water level allows, and the pool for a shorter window within that

Livingstone Island sits in the Zambezi right on the edge of the falls, between the Main Falls and the stretch to the east. It was from here, in 1855, that David Livingstone was paddled out by local boatmen and looked over the edge for the first time. You reach it much the same way: a boat from the Zambian bank, a few minutes across water that is wide and calm until, very suddenly, it is not.

You land, walk across the rock with the guides, and stand at the lip. The water drops away beside you into the chasm, the spray comes up past your feet, and on a bright day there is a rainbow sitting in it below you. Birds work the rocks and the shallow pools along the edge. The guides know every step of the island, and they keep you to the safe ones.

Then you eat, at a table set up on the rock. Depending on when you go it is breakfast, lunch or high tea, made there and served with the noise of the falls under everything. It is a strange and very good place to have a meal.

Devil’s Pool is the part people have heard of. When the river drops far enough, a lip of rock just under the surface at the very edge holds back the current, leaving a natural pool you can swim in with the guides, right at the top of the drop. It opens only for part of the island’s season, when the water is low, and only on days the guides judge it safe. Nobody can promise it for your date weeks ahead, and we will not either, but the island is worth the trip without it.

This is a Zambian-side trip only; the boats go from the Livingstone bank. Walk the paths along the falls the day before, so you have seen them from across the gorge before you stand on top of them, and keep an evening for a cruise on the river above.

Good to know

  • Only from the Zambian side. From Victoria Falls town it means crossing the bridge with your passport, and we plan the day around the border.
  • The island opens and closes with the water level, and the pool keeps a shorter season inside that. We confirm what is running nearer your date.
  • If you hope to swim, pack a swimsuit and a towel, and be comfortable in moving water. The guides decide on the day.
  • Breakfast is the shortest visit and lunch the longest. Choose by what else is in the day.
  • Keep your phone in a waterproof pouch. The spray at the lip reaches everything.

Listed daily from July to March only, depending on water levels, with the lunch visit at 11:45; visits run about an hour for breakfast, two for lunch and an hour and a half for high tea, after a boat ride of about ten minutes. Devil's Pool opens only when the water is low enough; breakfast and high-tea times, which meal runs on your date and any conditions the operator sets for the swim are to be confirmed. We confirm what applies to your dates in writing before you pay anything.

The river slides past the island, calm and flat, right up to the edge.

Where to do it

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Questions we are actually asked

Will we be able to swim in Devil's Pool?
Only if the river is low enough on your day, and nobody can promise that in advance. The pool opens for part of the island's season, as the water drops, and the guides decide each day whether it is safe. When it is closed, the boat, the island and the meal still run, and the view from the lip is reason enough to go.
How close to the edge do you actually go?
Close. The island sits on the lip of the falls, and the guides take you to the points where you can look straight down into the chasm, and into the pool at the edge when it is open. They set the limits on the rock, and you keep to them.
Breakfast, lunch or high tea?
Breakfast is the shortest visit, lunch the longest and most unhurried, and high tea sits in the afternoon between them. The island and the lip are the same on all three; the difference is the time of day and how long you stay. We confirm which are running on your date.
Can we do it from the Zimbabwean side?
Not directly. The boats leave from the Zambian bank, so from Victoria Falls town it means crossing the border on the bridge for the morning or the afternoon. That takes your passport and a visa that lets you back into Zimbabwe, and we check both before booking it.

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