Bibliography
Guide to Rhodesia by B. & M. & R. Railways, 1914 & 1924
An Essay on the 1905 Victoria Falls issue of the BSAC (1987) by C. Cordes

The Rhodesian Philatelist - Numerous articles relating to the Victoria Falls
No 2 (Nov 1993) First Day on 1905 Falls
No 4 (May 1994) Southern Rhodesia Sample Specimens
No 5 (Aug 1994) Mkushi Postage Dues, an update in No 6
No 9 (Sep 1995) 1929 Emergency Airmail from Victoria Falls
No 12 (Oct 1996) 1932 3d Imperforate between SG 30b
No 13 (Feb 1997) 1932 3d Imperforated horizontally SG 30a
No 23 (Oct 2003) 1905 1/- Falls Imperforate between varieties and
Victoria Fall B&M&R Railway Letter cards
No 24 (Jan 2005) Mail flown by the AOC during the 1929 strike
No 25 (Jan 2006) S. Rhodesia 1937 Coronation Issue and 3d Imperforate to top margin
No 30 (Jan 2011) Rhodesia & Nyasaland 1955 Aerogrammes
No 32 (April 2013) A Review of the 12 pictorial 1d postal stationery cards (H&G 11a)
plus S. Rhodesia 1935 Silver Jubilee Part I
No 33 (July 2013) S. Rhodesia 1935 Silver Jubilee Part II plus Pictorial & Postal Souvenirs and Labels of the Victoria Falls
No 34 (April 2014) S. Rhodesia 1935 Silver Jubilee Part III plus
1905 Victoria Falls Publicity Poster
No 35 (Aug 2014) Waterlow sample stamps plus S. Rhodesia 1932 3d Large Falls Imperforate between varieties and 1905 perforated Specimen
No 37 (Nov 2015) S. Rhodesia 1931 Definitives (2d & 3d Falls)
No 38 (July 2016) S. Rhodesia 1935 1d Silver Jubilee variety

The River and the Falls
The Zambesi is one of the four large rivers of the African continent and has a perennial flow of over 1,700 miles.
The river rises at an altitude of 5,000 feet, in Latitude 11° 21'S Longitude 24° 3'E and from its source to the Victoria Falls, is a distance of 800 miles, it is navigable in reaches of varying lengths, these stretches are determined by rapids and small falls; it enters Northern Rhodesia after flowing 70 miles.

At one time the Zambesi delivered its waters, not eastwards, as at present, but southwards into a depression known as the Kalahari Desert, which afterwards became filled up with sediment and necessitating a change of direction.

The flood time of the Falls occurs after the rainy season is over, and continues well in to the dry season. This phenomenon is due to the existence of swamp and marshes along its own banks and those of its tributary streams west of Kazungula, some sixty miles west of the Falls. These swamps or ‘sponge areas’ take the first four months of the rainy season to become soaked and full and they do not commence to yield their waters until towards and in the dry season.

The Discovery of the Victoria Falls
Although attributed to Dr Livingstone in 1855, the earliest people to depict the Victoria Falls are believed to be the Bushmen. They left at least six paintings in their rock caves and shelters in Southern Rhodesia. These representations are in oxides of red and yellow ochre’s, and are probably a thousand years old, possibly more. They show the line of the falls, or some section of it, and one portrays the columns of white vapour above the Falls uniting in a cloud.

Livingstone’s description of the Falls
Livingstone described them in the following terms...Of these falls we had often heard since we came into this country. It was called by the natives Mosi-oa-tunya (‘Smoke sounder there’) or more evidently ‘Shongwe’, which may mean a seething cauldron or ‘boiling water in a pot.’ Nowadays ‘the smoke that thunders’.

...After twenty minutes’ sail in a canoe from Kalai we came in sight, for the first time, of the columns of vapour, appropriately called ‘smoke,’ rising, at a distance of five or six miles, exactly as when large tracts of grass are burned in Africa...It had never been seen before by European eyes; but scenes so lovely must have been gazed upon by angels in their flight. The only want felt is that of mountains in the background. The Falls are bounded on three sides by ridges 300 or 400 feet in height, which are covered with forest, with the red soil appearing among the trees...

Early Paintings of the Victoria Falls
The first modern painter (circa 1862) was Thomas Baines, the well-known African explorer and he showed his pictures to Queen Victoria and the Prince Consort. Some of these paintings are in the Port Elizabeth Library and others in the Cape Town Library, while some are housed in Durban.

Dimensions - The Victoria Falls are nearly two-and-a-half times as high as the Niagara Falls and approximately twice as wide.
The measurements of the two are - Height of the Victoria Falls 420 feet and Niagara Falls
158 feet. Width of Victoria Falls, approximately one mile and Niagara, half a mile.

How and when to see the Victoria Falls
The best months for visiting the Falls is July and August. The Falls change their appearances and moods according to season and each season possesses a special attractiveness. From January to May the river is in flood; it is lowest from October to December. The greatest volume of water is falling in April, and the water level in the gorge is then some 50 feet higher than in November; but at this season the spray is densest and consequently the beauties of the cataracts are apt to be hidden from view. On the other hand, when the spray clouds are comparatively light, say in November, the volume of falling water is not nearly so great as in the flood season, with the result that the waters appear to hug the cliffs in their descent, instead of leaping boldly forward and plunging into the abyss clear of the precipice, as at flood times. At any season, however, they constitute one of the wonders of the world. Light effects are always of the most gorgeous description. Rainbows are to be seen along the chasm and over it at any hour of daylight, and lunar rainbows can be observed at full moon, when the general view is both charming and romantic. Sunrise effects are also magnificent.

In 1987 Chris Cordes published An Essay on the 1905 Victoria Falls issue of the B.S.A.C. - On page 59 in Appendix J he too listed the cards in the Knowles/Benton sequence. The forgoing sequence is generally favoured and adopted above.

Proud in his 1997 book The Postal History of Northern Rhodesia on page 91 wrote...The Department was also selling sets of pictorial postcards; the price was reduced to 2/- per set of 12 cards, but only 44 sets were sold. However 500 sets were sold to the Southern Rhodesia Post Office.

Henk de Lange owned a complete mint set and is the only person
I know who is able to divulge such information.

Cards used further North were bought by individuals travelling in that direction
and creates a false impression that they were for sale in the likes of Broken Hill.
Many of the cards from Northern Rhodesia were posted by Missioneries in remote areas and such cards generally entered the postal system at Broken Hill or Kalomo