Mul - unesdoc - Unesco

A. Kumirai et J. Muringaniza et D. Munyikwa - Victoria Falls/Mosi-Oa-Tunya World Heritage site
in the waterfall and the winds are calm, resulting
in the shrinking of the rain forest area. The extent
and luxuriance of the vegetation in the rain forest
as well as the species richness depend entirely
on the fluctuations of the quantity of water that
falls over the gorges. Those who have visited the
Zambian side of the Falls during the dry season
when very little water is flowing notice that the
rain forest shows clear signs of moisture stress.
The integrity of the rain forest on the
Zimbabwean side is maintained in relative
balance by the constancy of the deluge over the
gorges. Geological evidence shows that there
were arid and wet periods in the Victoria Falls in
the past and these must have resulted in the
shrinking and expansion of the rain forest.
VICTORIA FALLS AND THE CONCEPT OF
AUTHENTICITY
The application of the test of authenticity is
invariably applied to cultural landscapes
according to the Operafional Guidehes of the
World Heritage Convention. For thousands of
years, the waterfalls, gorges and the rain forest
have been receding upstream of the Zambezi
River following the fault lines of extruded basalts.
The waterfall is currently on gorge number eight
since the origin of the gorges at Batoka Gorge.
The rain forest has obviously followed the gorge
formation process until the current position at
Devils Cataract. The inclusive landscape covers
all the eight gorges but the representative
landscape is the one where the rain forest is
currently situated. The management decision
that was taken to fente off the rain forest and the
associated National Monument in 1972 rendered
the fenced area an artifice of the integral
landscape of the Victoria Falls. The exclusion
of large game animals from the rain forest
environment in order to allow tourists free reign
is a falsification of the extent of the boundaries of
the natural ecosystems included in the World
Heritage landscape. The physical environment is
regarded as pristine in as far as floral integrity is
concerned and the aesthetic beauty of the views
over the gorges are spectacular to the visiting
public, but there is no more faunal integrity in the
20-IOOm wide area of riparian forest close to the
rain forest.
PERCEPTIONS OF LOCAL COMMUNITIES
The tourists see a befitting natural wonder of the
world at Victoria Falls. Some visitors make
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pilgrimages to the Victoria Falls as if on a
spiritual fulfilment quest. Some foreign agents
have even placed a plaque declaring that the
Victoria Falls is a nerve centre for peace in the
world, a peace shrine. However, the same
environment is perceived by the traditional
elements of the local communities in a different
way. When David Livingstone, the first white man
to see the waterfall, was brought to Mosi oa
Tunya by the local people, in 1855, the river,
waterfall, gorges and the environs were in a
pristine condition. Even before David
Livingstone, the Makololo and the Tonga and
later the Nambya people found the waterfall and
the rain forest in a natural condition. Oral
tradition and documentary evidence attest to the
fact that local people used to perform rainmaking
and other ceremonies in the gorges of the
present waterfall. The rituals were conducted
under a baobab tree on the land hence the
significance of the ‘Big Tree’ that is situated
about 500m west of the waterfall. Colonial
policies and various pieces of legislation resulted
in the local communities being forcibly removed
from the Victoria Falls area. These people were
relocated in the Hwange Communal area. On the
Zambian side Chief Mukuni and his followers
have always been in the Victoria Falls area and
have continued to associate with the spiritual
values of the area.
The Tonga on both sides of the Zambezi River
and the Nambya people on the Zimbabwean
side perceive the waterfall and the rain forest
differently. The spirits of the Zambezi River
provided the people with water, fish and other
aquatic resources that were found in the river.
They also provided plant food, medicinal herbs
and wood for carving wooden tools and crafts.
These spirits spoke to them through the thunder
that is characteristic of the falling water. The
local people therefore paid homage to the spirits
by performing rituals in and out of the water. The
gorges and the rain forest symbolised the home
of the spirits and the rituals they performed
ensured their coexistence with the spirits in the
area. By relocating the local people to Hwange
and Jambezi, Victoria Falls was not only
desecrated, but left without its life force. TO the
local people, Victoria Falls is like an abandoned
home. There is no more life in the Victoria Falls
because the life force, which used to reside
there, moved out when the local people were
relocated.