How to take a dip on the edge of Victoria Falls and survive

The Devil’s Pool on the Zambian side of Victoria Falls lets swimmers paddle to the edge of the abyss – if they’re brave enough.

The Devil’s Pool is a rock pool perched on the very lip of Victoria Falls, one of the world’s most powerful waterfalls.

The locals call Victoria Falls Musi-o-Tunya – the smoke that thunders.

It’s the world’s largest sheet of falling water, plunging 108 metres onto craggy rocks below. 

Yet here, thanks to a freak of geology, intrepid travellers can bath on the edge of the precipice without being swept away.

The Devil’s Pool is – quiet literally – a hop, skip and a jump from Livingston Island, the spot where Livingston first caught sight of the Falls.

The pool can only be visited between August and January, during the dry season

When the water levels rise, the pool ‘disappears’ under the deluge.

You will be swept over the edge just like any other point along the lip of the falls.

The Devil’s Pool sits on the Zambian side of the Victoria Falls and can only be visited on an official tour with Tongabezi Safaris, organised in Livingstone.

Your guide will check for crocs and hippos and give you a hand across the small section of the Upper Zambezi that you need to swim across.

Once you reach the pool you can swim freely. Or just sitting against the rock ledge, listening to the roar of 8,430 cubic feet of water tumbling into the abyss every second.

It is one of the most exhilarating, death-defying experiences you can have on the planet.