The water crescent
White curtains split by rocky outcrops.
Anayawa Nyambe — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Anayawa Nyambe — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Petrtyl — CC BY 4.0 · Petrtyl — CC BY 4.0 · Petrtyl — CC BY 4.0
Ngonye Falls, also called Sioma Falls, lies on the Zambezi River in Zambia's Western Province, a few hundred kilometres upstream from Victoria Falls. Being hard to reach keeps them far less known, but they offer a broad, calm scene with hardly any crowds. The falls formed through the erosion of a hard sandstone layer that makes the river drop. Their height is only 10 to 25 m, but the width is what impresses, with a broad crescent interrupted by rocky outcrops. They sit in the southern part of Barotseland, and the Ngonye Falls Community Partnership Park has been set up here. Above the falls the river is broad and shallow as it crosses the Kalahari sands, and at the lip it splits into white curtains falling between dark rocks and small green islands. Below stretch white-water rapids hemmed in by gorges cut into the sandstone. The view from the bank is lovely, while from above the whole crescent appears with forest all around it. The falls lie about 276.2 km from Livingstone and 162.6 km from Mongu in a straight line, and sources describe the drive from the capital as a full day. Plan fuel and lodging ahead. Do not swim in the river, which has strong currents and may hold hippos and crocodiles, and take care on the slippery rocks.
White curtains split by rocky outcrops.
A broad, shallow river above the falls.
White-water rapids below the falls.
Near Sioma, Zambezi River, western Zambia
They are hard to reach, with a long drive from the capital, far from the main tourist centres.
It is not advised, as currents are strong and hippos and crocodiles may live in the river.