Colonial Past

February 12, 2023 – Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe

A geological fault line runs perpendicular to the Zambezi River on the northern edge of Zimbabwe.  The river widens upstream of the fissure, resulting in this spectacular waterfall, one of the seven natural wonders of the world.

The waterfall has three names.  In 1855, Stanley Livingstone named it Victoria Falls, after Queen Victoria.  For millennia before that, people living on the north side of the river have called this place aManzi Thungayo — “The Water Which Rises Like Smoke.”  People on the Zimbabwe side call the falls Mosiez-oa-Tanya – “Smoke that Thunders”.

All of Southern Africa is moving away from place names imposed by colonists, but in the case of Victoria Falls, the Zambians and the Zimbabweans can’t agree on which traditional name to use.  Neither of the indigenous names rolls off the tongue easily so, for tourism purposes, the official name is still Victoria Falls.

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King Charles (then Prince) visited the falls named after his great-great-grandmother, several years ago. The man-who-would-be-king was seemingly uninterested in the geological significance of the falls, or the statistical data of width, height, or volume of water passing over the crevasse.  While viewing this wonder of the natural world, Charles peered at the roaring spectacle, then turned to his host, the Zambian minister of tourism, and asked, “So how many people commit suicide by throwing themselves over here?” 

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Prince Philip’s South African experience wasn’t much better.  At a formal dinner in the recently post apartheid country, the Prince, presented with a menu choice of duck or beef, asked his waiter, in a tone only a Royal can muster, “What’s the duck like?” 

The waiter pondered a moment and then replied: “It’s like a chicken, only it swims.”

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Is it any wonder Africans want to erase their … 

… colonial past.

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For the record, there is no evidence that anybody ever committed suicide at the falls. Occasional hippopotamus or crocodile swept over the falls are found swirling around at a point called the Boiling Pot.

In 1910 a Mr. Orchard and a Mrs. Moss had their canoe overturned by a hippo above the falls.  The pair tumbled over the falls where their bodies were found.

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