Victoria Falls, Zambezi River First descent of the Zambezi River below Victoria Falls. Back in 1985 two guys who thought they were good paddlers went out to Africa to take on the gorges below Victoria Falls on the Zambezi River, between Zambia and Zimbabwe. By something of a miracle they survived the rapids, the crocodiles and each other's bad jokes and lived to tell the tale of the first complete kayak descent of this stretch of river. 21 years later, by then both middle aged old farts, they went back to see if they could still cut it on the Zambezi, by now commonly regarded as one of the world's classic big water kayaking runs. Amazing Zambezi - the story of the first full descent of the Batoka Gorges of the Zambezi River in Africa (PDF, 2Mb) Harare Herald Article - report on first descent of Batoka Gorges of Zambezi River, Zimbabwe (PDF, 300 KB) Coming soon, the story of how the two old farts and a few middle aged mates went back to prove to themselves that they could still take on the Zambezi. They found the rapids were still as huge as ever, but the kayakers on the river were barely out of their teens, paddling ridiculously short boats and running ridiculous lines down the most fearsome drops.