# Has Anyone Ever Fallen Off Victoria Falls? (Devil's Pool) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 10, 2013, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-fallen-off-victoria-falls-devils-pool/655317 "2013-04-10T12:46:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-fallen-off-victoria-falls-devils-pool/655317/1 "2013-04-10T12:46:04Z")
Tourists hiking to Victoria Falls (Zimbabwe ) are invited to cool off by swimming in the so-called "Devil’s Pool)-this is a rock pool that is right at the edge of the falls. Supposedly, it is quite safe, and there is a ledge of about 2 foot width, from the drop. The videos you see on YouTube show the people quite relaxed…but I don’t know-has anyone been swept over the falls? I doubt anyone wold survive this-it is quite a drop. (Several times worse than Niagara.:eek: ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-fallen-off-victoria-falls-devils-pool/655317/2 "2013-04-10T12:49:06Z")
According to the [Wikipedia article](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_Falls#Tourism_in_recent_years), “Occasional deaths have been reported when people have slipped over the rock barrier” ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-fallen-off-victoria-falls-devils-pool/655317/3 "2013-04-10T12:52:27Z")
It also is not safe when the waters are high. If you miscalculate, there could be a torrent going over those ledges and you could be swept over rather than stop. ---
**Author:** ![scudsucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scudsucker/32/14101_2.png) [@scudsucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scudsucker)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-fallen-off-victoria-falls-devils-pool/655317/4 "2013-04-10T14:45:40Z")
- Nitpick - access to that pool is via Zambia, not Zimbabwe. As far as I recall, there have been deaths from slipping on wet rocks from the Zimbabwean side. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-fallen-off-victoria-falls-devils-pool/655317/5 "2013-04-10T14:46:00Z")
So, it’s “quite safe”, only “occasional deaths”, assuming that you don’t “miscalculate”. Hmm…writing off the Devil’s pool from my “to do” list Also…there has been someone who was the first to say “It’s really hot today. Don’t you think that spot right over the falls would be a nice place to cool off?” :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-fallen-off-victoria-falls-devils-pool/655317/6 "2013-04-10T16:10:04Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > Also…there has been someone who was the first to say “It’s really hot today. Don’t you think that spot right over the falls would be a nice place to cool off?” :eek: Now that you mention it, I’ve always wondered about the mindset of the people who discover this sort of thing. I figure, it takes a special combination of bravery, stupidity, and suicidal tendencies. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-fallen-off-victoria-falls-devils-pool/655317/7 "2013-04-10T17:50:31Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > Now that you mention it, I’ve always wondered about the mindset of the people who discover this sort of thing. > > I figure, it takes a special combination of bravery, stupidity, and suicidal tendencies. During the dry season, the falls can nearly cease to exist. A dip in the pool at that time of year is pretty safe. When the river is in full flood, different story. As a side note, should anyone get the chance to visit Victoria Falls, do NOT pass up the opportunity; and take the sunset cruise on the Zambezi River. There is also rafting in the gorge, but I don’t think there is any portion of it that is below a category four rapid. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-fallen-off-victoria-falls-devils-pool/655317/8 "2013-04-10T19:14:23Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > So, it’s “quite safe”, only “occasional deaths”, assuming that you don’t “miscalculate”. > > Hmm…writing off the Devil’s pool from my “to do” list > > Also…there has been someone who was the first to say “It’s really hot today. Don’t you think that spot right over the falls would be a nice place to cool off?” :eek: Once you were in the pool it would be extremely hard to “slip” over the ledge in anything like a normal flow - you’d have to actively try to climb over it. Getting into it in the first place might be a different matter. Do people swim to it or get there by boat? Even so, as a father, the second picture down on [this page](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-561261/Is-ultimate-dangerous-infinity-pool-world-The-natural-water-hole-perched-edge-Victoria-Falls.html) gives me the serious willies. I visited Victoria Falls in 2001 and am slightly annoyed that I didn’t know about that pool. I must have been stood right by it, but I don’t think it had been “discovered” as a tourist attraction back then. Does anyone know when the first references to it appeared? From the Zambian bank, you can stand right on the edge of the river, almost literally within touching distance of the precipice. The river above the falls is deceptively wide, shallow and peaceful. Just 50ft or so upstream of the falls I remember being able to dip my feet in a shallow sandy beach-like bit at the edge of the water, and in no way felt unsafe. What did give me pause was the way the local kids would swim from that shore across to the little islands in the stream, showing off. Yes, the river is peaceful, but it is still pretty fast flowing, and the kids would strike out at an angle upstream so they’d be carried down and reach the island they were aiming at. I thought at the time that a miscalculation would be fatal, but perhaps the kids knew there was a ledge there and were only swimming above the “Devil’s Pool”? Certainly if they did, they didn’t go and sit in it. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-fallen-off-victoria-falls-devils-pool/655317/9 "2013-04-10T19:28:02Z")
Answering my own question (sort of)… from [here](http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/thread.jspa?threadID=1807010): > [@](#): > > A boat picks you up from the Sun International Hotel and takes you to the island where they give you a brief tour, and then walk you over the rocks to the pool. You strip down to your bathing-suits, then jump into the cold water, and swim first upstream, then down in a path to reach the area where the Pool is. There is a safety line if someone should get caught in the current and taken towards the falls, but honestly this was not an issue as, besides the idea of jumping into the Zambezi being a bit scary, it is not difficult to fight the current here. You then one by one jump into the Devil’s Pool and float towards the rock wall that acts as a barrier preventing you from going over. Note the post under that one: > [@](#): > > Last September [i.e. 2009] one tourist slipped while in the devil’s pools and his official tour guide (with a well known overland company) slipped over the falls trying to save the tourist. The tourist was saved and, sadly, the zim guide died. This is not actually correct. A tour guide did die trying to rescue a tourist who fell in the river, but it was not at the Devil’s Pool. See the update and comments [here](http://africasafariblog.com/?p=866). ---
**Author:** ![mcgato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac8455/32.png) [@mcgato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mcgato)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-fallen-off-victoria-falls-devils-pool/655317/10 "2013-04-10T21:43:51Z")
I’d be curious how long that pool has been safe for that activity, and how long it is expected to be safe into the future. At some point that barrier wall is going to degrade and fall down. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-fallen-off-victoria-falls-devils-pool/655317/11 "2013-04-10T22:58:45Z")
> [@mcgato](#): > > At some point that barrier wall is going to degrade and fall down. And the thing is you’re never going to be sure exactly when that would be and it could break off suddenly and in a substantial way. Sure the odds are absurdly low it would happen when you are there and in the dry season. But I have got enough issue with sheer heights as it is - you’d have to put a gun on me to get me into that pool. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2013, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-fallen-off-victoria-falls-devils-pool/655317/12 "2013-04-11T04:44:49Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > And the thing is you’re never going to be sure exactly when that would be and it could break off suddenly and in a substantial way. Sure the odds are absurdly low it would happen when you are there and in the dry season. But I have got enough issue with sheer heights as it is - you’d have to put a gun on me to get me into that pool. I agree. I’ve always had a deep-seated fear of waterfalls. They’re just so, I don’t know, instant death right in front of you. Sort of like being in a railroad tunnel and seeing an oncoming train’s light headed toward you, you see it coming and there’s nothing you can do. I get the heeby-jeebies just watching those YouTube videos of people swimming in Victoria’s Devil’s Pool. Plus, rock is rock, it’s not reinforced steel. I don’t care if it’s two feet thick, if that wall were ever to give way, and it could, everybody in the pool at the time would be instantly & unstoppably swept to their deaths. No thanks…