Live, invest or retire beside one of the wonders of the world.
For centuries the local people have called the falls Mosi-oa-Tunya, “the smoke that thunders”. The Scottish explorer David Livingstone reached them in 1855 and named them after Queen Victoria.
Settlement began in 1901. The railway from Bulawayo arrived and the Victoria Falls Hotel opened in 1904, and the Victoria Falls Bridge across the Zambezi opened in April 1905. From the start the town was a gateway: to the falls, to Zambia and to the rest of the region.
Through the 20th century Victoria Falls grew around tourism: river cruises, safaris, the national park and, later, bungee jumping, rafting and a busy international airport. Lodges, hotels and family homes followed.
Victoria Falls became a city on 9 December 2020. The airport was rebuilt and expanded in the 2010s and now takes regional and international flights, and the Victoria Falls Stock Exchange opened in 2020.
Government development plans aim to grow Victoria Falls as a tourism and financial hub, and demand from investors, hospitality businesses and Zimbabweans living abroad keeps rising. For buyers, that means a town with a world-famous name, steady visitor numbers and room to grow, and good property here is worth getting into early.
