Victoria Falls Bridge

The bridge crosses the Zambezi River just below the Victoria Falls and is built over the Second Gorge of the falls. As the river is the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia, the bridge links the two countries and has border posts on the approaches to both ends, at the towns of Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe and Livingstone, Zambia.

Prior to the Victoria Falls bridge being built and completed in 1905 the Zambezi River had to be crossed either by a barge on a steel cable or a dugout canoe. The crossings were made from the Old Drift which is up to the river from the falls because of the dangers faced from the strong currents as the water rushed over the falls.

The settlement of Victoria Falls started developing in 1900 this was because Cecil John Rhodes desired mineral rights north of the Zambezi.

Cecil Rhodes had a vision of a Cape to Cairo railway and hence he started plans for the first bridge across the mighty Zambezi. He was insistent that the bridge should be built in a place that the spray from the falls would fall on the passing trains. This is why the site for the bridge was chosen just a little below the Boiling Pot, at almost right angles to the falls.

The canyon is spanned by this magnificent bridge 198m long, with a main arch of span. The height from low water level to the rails on the bridge is 128. The famous view of the Bridge with the falls behind it is best seen from the viewpoint just below Victoria Falls Hotel. Today you may well see tourists bungee jumping from the bridge.

The Victoria Falls Bridge was completed in April 1905, and although this was a brainchild of Cecil John Rhodes he died before the completion.

The main credit for designing the Victoria Falls Bridge must go to George Andrew Hobson of London based consultants Sir Douglas Fox and Partners (later to become Freeman, Fox and Partners), not as is often stated, Sir Ralph Freeman, the same engineer who would later be designer of the famous Sydney Harbour Bridge in Australia.

At the time of the design of the Victoria Falls Bridge, Freeman was still only an assistant in the firm, although he was involved in calculating the preliminary stresses involved with the steelwork design and was credited by Hobson for his involvement.

The name given to the steam trains puffing along the tracks in Africa were “shongololos” this in the local language means centipede. This was apt given their unusual appearance to anything witnessed by the local people before.

The railway link between Zimbabwe and Zambia is used by a few freight trains but there are no regular rail passenger services over the bridge today