Island Tours Devalue Tourist Experience at Victoria Falls

(Zimbabwe, 25th September 2024).

The Mosi-oa-Tunya/Victoria Falls UNESCO World Heritage Listing places great emphasis on the protection of the immediate area of the Falls from tourism and other developments in an attempt to keep the views of the Falls as natural as possible and to preserve the experience of tourists, on both sides of the river.

Visitors to the Zimbabwean 'Rainforest' have their view of the Falls marred
by a group visiting the Devil's Pool and Livingstone Island 

from the Zambian side of the river.

For this reason a 'no new development' zone surrounds the core of the Site, yet the launch of tours to Cataract Island from the Zimbabwean side of the river, also highlights an existing issue on the Zambian side, where tours to Livingstone Island have been established for many years. The growth in popularity of the associated Devil's Pool activity in recent years especially has significantly increased the number and the visual impact of the tours, with groups of tourists clambering over the rocks being highly visible from the main tourism viewpoints on the Zimbabwean side of the river (as illustrated in the first photograph, above) and including temporary structures, erected each season, which are again visible from the Zimbabwean side of the river (second photo, below).

The view across to Livingstone Island from the Zimbabwean side of the river,

with temporary structures used for tourists in full view.

In response to the popularity of these tours, Zimbabwean authorities have controversially authorized the use of Cataract Island for similar activities, with yet further negative impacts on the view of tourists (third photo, below), whilst also ignoring the impacts of these tourist upon the fragile ground flora of the island (the last remaining area of the rainforest undisturbed by tourism), as well as an online petition against the use of Cataract Island for tourism which received over 40,000 signatories.

Visitors to the Zimbabwean 'Rainforest' now also have their view of the Falls 

marred by groups visiting Cataract Island.

The special status of the Victoria Falls as a National Monument, National Park and UNESCO World Heritage Site aims to protect their rich natural and cultural history for future generations, also ensuring that they remain a global tourism attraction. Yet Park Authorities on the south bank have in recent years approved a wave of tourism developments within the highly protected 'red zone,' part of an ongoing trend in developing private tourism concessions within the the wider National Park area and commercialisation of the Falls in search of ever increasing tourism receipts. For this increasingly devalued experience overseas visitors are charged an ever increasing visitor fee - currently US$50 for the Zimbabwean side of the river.

The UNESCO World Heritage Committee, having previously requested a full independent Environmental and Social Impact Assessment before the commencement of any tourism activities on Cataract Island, are yet to comment specifically on the launch tours. No ESIA process had been conducted, as evidenced by the lack of public disclosure before the launch of the tours in April 2021 (shortly after the UNESCO Monitoring Mission to the Site).

Further Information

Tours to Cataract Island are operated by Zambezi Crescent, managers of the upstream Victoria Falls River Lodge (also located within the highly sensitive 'red zone') under the promotional banner of the 'Cataract Pool' - see www.cataractpool.com.

Read more on the launch of tours to Cataract Island on our website here. 

Visit the Keep Victoria Falls Wild website for more on the wave of tourism development issues surrounding the conservation and protection of the Falls.

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