Victoria Falls are an impressive sight — they are the largest falls in the world (by total size of the water curtain). But the highlight of my visit there in 2019 was swimming at the top, just a few centimeters from the massive drop at the edge of the falls. It’s called Devil’s Pool, and it’s one of the coolest things I’ve ever had the chance to do.
Right next to this, there’s a beautiful Marriott hotel where you can get 7 free nights (worth $2300+) just with the increased welcome bonus on the Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card. This amazing deal is offered just once a year and ends May 6th, 2024.
Victoria Falls is one of the 7 Natural Wonders of the World. They’re located at the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia. Before this trip, I didn’t even know it was possible to swim at the edge of the falls. But you can. And I did.
Here’s what it was like to swim in Devil’s Pool.
What is Devil’s Pool
It seems crazy when you think about it, swimming at the very edge of the world’s largest falls.
It’s a bit insane, but it was absolutely thrilling.
To give you an idea of what it’s all about, I’ll start with 2 generic aerial pics before sharing my own videos and photos (I didn’t do the helicopter tour; I’m too much of a budget traveler).
Here’s a picture of Victoria Falls during the wet season.
It’s huge, right? Almost 2 kilometers from one end to the other.
And here’s where Devil’s Pool is located: a tiny section lost somewhere along the edge.
I took a picture of this section of the falls from the other side so you could get a sense of the scale of all this. Apologies for the particularly low quality of this one, I had to zoom in a lot so you could (barely) see the tiny people.
If you look closely along the edge in the middle, just after the main water curtain stops, you’ll see subtle little white-skin-colored spots.
Those are people swimming in the Devil’s Pool, like I did a few days before taking that picture.
Yes, you can really swim right there. But you can only do it during the dry season.
The falls look very different at that time of year; they are less wide. But the lower water level is what makes it safe to swim in Devil’s Pool (and even just to get there).
Even though the falls aren’t as wide, it’s still 108 meters high, and it’s still a really steep drop. That doesn’t change. And yes there is less water volume, but as you will see below, there’s still a pretty strong current!
Swimming in Devil’s Pool
I’ve always enjoyed infinity pools, but artificial ones have nothing on Devil’s Pool.
Isn’t this the most amazing infinity pool ever?
The huge waterfall is right behind me.
Words (and even images) can’t do justice to the incredible experience of swimming an arm’s length away from a 108-meter waterfall, which is more than twice as high as Niagara Falls for comparison.
But I’ll try anyway.
As if chilling in the water a meter away from an insane drop wasn’t cool enough, the guides also let us climb onto the rocky edge.
I could look down and see the bottom of the falls from the edge (the equivalent of 33 stories below). It’s an indescribable feeling.
The guides had told us they’d let us go to the edge of the falls, the closest we could without falling. But I didn’t expect it to be that close.
The powerful rumbling of the massive falls and the sight of the bottom of the gorge 108 meters below — it was sensational. The famous falls’ rainbows are very visible and impressive too.
By the way, 108 meters high is reallyyyy high. Imagine laying down at the edge of a 33-story building and looking down… but add water flowing all around you and a huge waterfall a few feet away, one that you can very clearly hear too.
I shot this video from further away, so imagine the sound from even closer to the falls — our guides didn’t let us use our devices ourselves in the Devil’s Pool itself, for safety reasons.
Safety of the Devil’s Pool
I’m not sure if this attraction would pass safety regulations in Canada, but I absolutely couldn’t care less.
It was one of the most exciting activities I’ve done, ever. Maybe not as extreme as skydiving from a very old Soviet plane spewing dark smoke that crashed 3 months later when I was 12 years old (that’ll be for another post), but pretty exciting nonetheless!
They even warn us that the activity is at our own risk…
… but no worries: literally no visitor has ever died here. It’s never happened. At least it had never happened before I went in 2019, I haven’t checked since.
That’s certainly good enough for me, as I’m among the extremely rational people who know how to contextualize risk levels and not among those who are always scared of everything. No one had ever died. I don’t believe I’m special enough to be the first.
Forget safety barriers too: after about a half hour of swimming in Devil’s Pool, we got to walk to the very edge and admire the view of the falls from an absolutely unique perspective.
It was very different from seeing Victoria Falls from the other side. I’ll return to this below.
Journey to Devil’s Pool
Even just making our way to Devil’s Pool was quite the adventure.
We had to walk on rocks and swim across a part of the Zambezi River to make our way to the edge. (There aren’t any strong currents during this period, thankfully.)
It’s surprisingly calm in the river considering we’re so close to a massive waterfall.
Before that crossing, we had to take a speedboat ride, continuously zig-zagging to avoid the rocks, to get to Livingstone Island, where you find Devil’s Pool.
An authentic Zambia breakfast on Livingstone Island wrapped up our time there. But no, it was not crocodile ribs; those are usually for dinner in Zambia (and they’re delicious by the way).
View of Victoria Falls from Devil’s Pool
The downside of visiting Victoria Falls during the dry season is that over 50% of the falls’ width is entirely dried up — the part on the right in the very first aerial picture I showed you.
At least, even the dried-up part of the canyon is pretty impressive to see.
But honestly, I was glad to go during the dry season because I much prefer swimming in Devil’s Pool. You can’t have both. Either you see the falls in full force OR you swim in Devil’s Pool.
Seeing waterfalls is impressive, but swimming at the top is a unique opportunity.
(And safaris in Chobe National Park nearby are better in the dry season — post coming soon!)
It’s still breathtaking to see the massive 90-degree cliff wall that seems to go on forever.
I can only imagine how majestic the waterfalls must be during the wet season when they cover the entire length of the canyon.
Maybe I’ll go back in the rainy season. The Marriott hotel near Victoria Falls means there are no lodging costs at least!
Cost of visiting Devil’s Pool
The visit to Devil’s Pool cost me $135, which isn’t cheap, but it was well worth it. Now it seems to cost $198.
And also, it’s illegal and impossible to go to Devil’s Pool without a guide. I don’t usually pay for an organized tour (because I want to travel more), but there was literally no other option in this case.
And this was way too cool to miss out on!
Free hotel near Devil’s Pool
The beautiful free hotel I stayed at near Victoria Falls was amazing.
But most importantly, among the hundreds of free hotel nights I’ve gotten with my Marriott Bonvoy points in the past years, it was one of the best in terms of value.
That’s because the cash price for the Protea Hotel Livingstone is very high, but it doesn’t require that many points for free nights!
For example, it’s $331 per night on random dates next January — that’s $2317 for 7 nights.
But the cost in points is only 69,000 points total for 7 nights.
That means that you can get $2300+ in value so easily just with the Marriott Bonvoy Amex Card‘s increased welcome bonus which will give you 71,000 points.
That’s amazing! If your travel companion gets it too, you get 142,000 points worth $4600+.
The hotel costs just 9,857 points per night or 4,929 points per night per person with a travel companion. That gives you an incredibly high value of 3.4¢/pt (way more than our conservative Flytrippers Valuation of ≈ 0.9¢/pt).
As we explained, those points can even be worth $3000 in a very luxurious hotel in the Maldives ($6000 with a companion). Or you can get 17 free nights in some nice hotels (34 with a companion).
The potential value is unlimited because the amount of points required is NOT linked to the cash price. That’s the beauty of travel rewards of the more lucrative type, like Marriott points.
You’ll have plenty of time to understand how to make the most of your points, as there’s no time limit whatsoever to use them.
But the amazing deal ends May 6th, so that is what is most urgent!
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Summary
Swimming in Devil’s Pool was one of the most fun activities I’ve ever done, whether it’s while traveling or not. There’s nothing quite like swimming a few feet away from a huge waterfall and seeing the bottom far below. I definitely recommend it if you go to Southern Africa.
What would you like to know about Devil’s Pool? Tell us in the comments below.
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Featured image: Swimming in Devil’s Pool (Photo Credit: Andrew D’Amours/Flytrippers)
