The first non-African (foreign) man to ever see Victoria Falls was a man named Dr. David Livingstone (1813-73). He was a Scottish doctor and missionary, and also one of the most important explorers of Africa.

Livingstone was born on March 19, 1813, in Blantyre, Scotland. In 1823, he began to work in a cotton-textile factory. Later, in his medical studies in Glasgow, he also went to in theology classes, and in 1838, he offered his work to the London Missionary Society. When he finished his Medical studies in 1840, Dr. Livingstone was sent to South Africa for his missionary job. In 1841, he reached Kuruman. This was a Christian mission near Botswana (Bechuanaland) started by the Scottish missionary Robert Moffat (1795-1883).

Dr. Livingstone started his work with the Africans in Bechuanaland. He tried to go north even though the Boers against him. He married Mary Moffat (died 1862), the daughter of Robert Moffat, in 1845, and they worked together. The Livingstones traveled to places where no European had ever been. In 1849 he crossed the Kalahari Desert and discovered Lake Ngami. In 1851, with his wife and children, he discovered the Zambezi River. On another trip (1852-56), when he was looking for a route to the inside from the east or west coast, he traveled to the north from Cape Town to the Zambezi river, and then west to Luanda on the Atlantic coast. Then, following the route (track) of his journey to the Zambezi, Livingstone followed the river to its opening in the Indian Ocean. That was how he discovered the great Victoria Falls of the Zambezi River.

After discovering the Victoria Falls, Livingstone discovered many other bodies of water and even land. During this time, Livingstone didn’t know he was news in Europe & lack of new about him was worrying and concerning other people in the world.

In 1870, he began another journey from Ujiji, on Lake Tanganyika, into the area west of the lake, becoming the first European to visit the Lualaba River, in Zaire. After a lot of problems and struggles he returned to Ujiji and was met by a rescue party that was being led by a man named Henry Morton Stanley, an American journalist. “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?” were the famous words that Stanley said when he met Dr. Livingstone.  Stanley and Livingstone explored the country north of Lake Tanganyika together. Later, Livingstone went out alone to continue his search for the source of the Nile. He died in Chitambo probably on April 30, 1873; he was found dead on May 1. His followers (crew) buried his heart at the roots of the tree beneath when they found him dead and carried his body to Zanzibar on the east coast. In April 1874.Livingstone is said to be one of the greatest modern African explorers.