Some two million years ago the Makgadikgadi Pan area started to uplift, and since then the Zambezi River has been cutting through the basalt. The waters have exploited weak fissures and formed a series of retreating gorges. Seven previous waterfalls occupied the seven gorges below the present falls. At the falls, the Zambezi River - which meanders through more than 2,700 km of African countryside - is more than two kilometres wide and plunges noisily down the basalt gorges, raising an iridescent mist that can be seen some 20 kilometres away. During February and March, the Zambezi is in full flood and forms the largest curtain of falling water in the world. Over 500 million litres of water per minute go over the falls, which are 1,708 metres wide and drop 99 metres at Rainbow Falls in Zambia. In November, due to the low rate of water, the river is divided into a series of intertwining channels that descend in many separate falls. The flow can be reduced to around 10 million litres per minute.

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