Victoria Falls drops the Zambezi River about 108 m over a curtain roughly 1,708 m wide into the narrow, zigzagging Batoka Gorge. Toggle the mist plume - the "smoke" that gives it its local name - and switch between flood-season and dry-season flow.
Published figures: width about 1,708 m; height about 108 m; on the Zambezi River between Zambia and Zimbabwe; local name Mosi-oa-Tunya, "The Smoke That Thunders"; spray visible up to about 30 km away at peak flood.
Drag to orbit and scroll or pinch to zoom. Everything renders on your device with WebGL.
Victoria Falls 3D Explorer
This browser explorer shows Victoria Falls in cross-section: the Zambezi River crossing a wide basalt plateau, the roughly 1,708 m curtain plunging about 108 m over the lip, and the narrow, zigzagging Batoka Gorge that carries the river away downstream.
Victoria Falls sits on the Zambezi River, on the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe. Its local name, Mosi-oa-Tunya, means "The Smoke That Thunders" - the mist plume rising off the falls can be seen up to about 30 km away at peak flood, usually around April. The falls formed as the river cut backward through a series of basalt cracks, leaving the sharp zigzag bends of the Batoka Gorge below.
- Toggle the mist plume to see the spray column that gives the falls its local name
- Toggle the season to compare the full-width flood-season curtain with the narrower dry-season flow
- Read width, height, flow, and heritage figures in the panel
- Drag to orbit, scroll or pinch to zoom
- Runs fully in the browser with the vendored three.js engine - no account, no upload
| Figure | Published value |
|---|---|
| Width | about 1,708 m - one of the widest continuous curtains of falling water in the world |
| Height | about 108 m - roughly twice Niagara Falls' height |
| River / border | Zambezi River, between Zambia and Zimbabwe |
| Local name | Mosi-oa-Tunya, "The Smoke That Thunders" |
| Spray visibility | up to about 30 km away at peak flood (around April) |
| Downstream landform | the Batoka Gorge - a zigzagging basalt canyon carved by the river cutting backward over geologic time |
| Seasonality | peak flood flow can exceed about 500 million litres per minute; dry-season (Sept-Dec) flow drops sharply, and some channels on the lip nearly stop |
| Heritage status | Mosi-oa-Tunya / Victoria Falls National Parks - UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1989 |
For other river-carved landforms, open the Grand Canyon 3D Explorer to walk the rock layers of a much older canyon, or the Yosemite Valley 3D Explorer to see a glacially carved valley with its own famous waterfalls.
The whole scene - the basalt plateau, the wide Zambezi channel, the falls curtain sections, the mist plume, and the zigzag Batoka Gorge downstream - is built and drawn on your own device with WebGL through the site-vendored three.js engine. Orbit the scene to see the plateau split open along the falls line, and zoom in to compare the flood-season and dry-season curtain width. Nothing about your visit is uploaded to a server, and the engine loads once (about 0.7 MB) and is then cached.
This is an educational approximation - the plateau relief, gorge zigzag, and curtain sections are schematic teaching cues, not survey data.
Frequently Asked Questions
How wide and how tall is Victoria Falls?
About 1,708 m wide and about 108 m tall - one of the widest continuous curtains of falling water in the world, and roughly twice the height of Niagara Falls.
Why is it called Mosi-oa-Tunya, "The Smoke That Thunders"?
The mist plume thrown up by the falls can be seen rising like smoke from up to about 30 km away at peak flood, usually around April, and the roar of the water carries a similar distance.
Which countries border Victoria Falls?
Zambia on the north/east side and Zimbabwe on the south/west side; the Zambezi River forms the border at this point.
What is the Batoka Gorge?
The narrow, zigzagging basalt canyon the Zambezi River flows into just downstream of the falls, formed as the river cut backward through cracks in the basalt over geologic time.
Does the flow change with the season?
Yes, dramatically. Peak flood flow (around April) can exceed about 500 million litres per minute, while in the dry season (roughly September to December) some channels on the basalt lip nearly stop flowing.
Is this a scientific terrain model?
No. It is an educational explorer using published figures - the plateau relief, gorge zigzag, and curtain sections are schematic teaching cues, not survey data.