African Reservations

Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park is an Heritage site that is home to one half of the Mosi-oa-Tunya — 'The Smoke Which Thunders' — known worldwide as Victoria Falls on the Zambezi River. The river forms the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe, so the falls are shared by the two countries, and the park is 'twin' to the Victoria Falls National Park on the Zimbabwean side.

Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park covers 66 km² from the Songwe Gorge below the falls in a north-west arc along about 20 km of the Zambian river bank. It forms the south-western boundary of the city of Livingstone and has two main sections, each with separate entrances: a wildlife park at its north-western end, and the land adjacent to the immense and awe-inspiring Victoria Falls, which in the rainy season is the world's largest curtain of falling water. It extends downstream from the falls and to the south-east along the Batoka Gorges.

The wildlife park includes tall riverine forest with palm trees, miombo woodland and grassland with plenty of birds, and animals including giraffe, zebra, warthog, sable, eland, buffalo, impala and other antelope. Elephants are sometimes seen in the park when they cross the river in the dry season from the Zimbabwean side. Hippopotamus and crocodile can be seen from the river bank. Vervet monkeys and baboons are common as they are in the rest of the national park outside the wildlife section. As of January 2009 the commercial wildlife company, Lion Encounter, has been operating a "walking with Lions" experience within the park, with further plans to start a breeding programme for lions within the soon to be expanded Dambwa Forest section of the park. Within the wildlife park is the Old Drift cemetery where the first European settlers were buried.

The Falls section of the national park includes the rainforest on the cliff opposite the Eastern Cataract which is sustained by spray from the falls. It contains plants rare for the area such as pod mahogany, ebony, ivory palm, wild date palm and a number of creepers and lianas. Small antelopes and warthogs inhabit this area, and may also be seen in on the paths through the riverine forest leading to the falls.