Nerves of steel are just one requirement for thrill-seekers looking for the ultimate holiday snap. Patience would also be an advantage.

Devil’s Pool is the most dangerous swimming pool in the world – perched on top of Victoria Falls, on the edge of a precipice, 360ft (110m) above oblivion, with 38,430 cubic feet of water gushing past your ears every second. This is as close as it gets to swimming on the edge of the world.

The view, as well as the experience, is heart-stoppingly spectacular. If you plan to take a paddle, it would be wise to choose your moment carefully.

For most of the year, anyone venturing into Devil’s Pool would be swept over the edge by the raging torrent in a heartbeat. But during the dry season, the waters of the Zambezi River slow enough that bathers can swim in relative safety.

Victoria Falls stretch for a mile between Zambia and Zimbabwe. Guides escort adventurous tourists from the Zambian side for a $5 fee to the pool in an area at the top of the Falls known as Livingstone Island.

Even getting to the pool is dangerous. The walk can take three hours and involves hopping from rock to rock, negotiating slippery surfaces and avoiding fast-flowing water that can sweep the unwary over the edge of the waterfall.

People who make it as far as the Devil’s Pool, one of at least two natural pools at or close to the precipice, experience a rush of adrenaline.

Francisc Stugren, who visited with his wife, Angela, to celebrate their first wedding anniversary, said that it was better than bungee jumping.

The software engineer from Seattle, Washington, said: “Being in the Devil’s Pool is a serious adrenaline rush. The thought that you may get sucked away from the relatively calm waters of the pool and down the foamy hell into the pit makes you giddy with apprehension, although you have to stray out quite a bit for that to happen.

“If you jump in it adds to the excitement but you can also get in gently. It’s great fun. Some people enjoy it quietly, swimming, looking and thinking, while others just keep screaming.”

The pool at the top of the falls is gaining a reputation among “radical tourists” as the perfect spot to combine thrill-seeking with natural beauty.

Among the visitors who have enthused about it in blogs is David Ryan, who described it as “something you will talk about until the day you die”. He said: “I jumped at the opportunity to walk across the back of the falls and swim in the Devil’s Pool. The Devil’s Pool is a small pool on the rim of the horseshoe falls that allows you to lean over the edge watching the water fall towards the boiling pot below.”

Victoria Falls, now regarded as one of the seven natural wonders of the world, first became known in the West after the explorer David Livingstone discovered them in 1855. He recorded that they were “so lovely” that he considered they must have been “gazed upon by angels in their flight”.

The falls are known locally as Mosioa-Tunya, or “the smoke that thunders”, in the Kololo or Lozi languages. The falls are spread more than a mile across and are more than twice the height of Niagara Falls.

Despite the spectacular drop the Victoria Falls are far from boasting the highest waterfall in the world and fail even to get into the top 30.

The highest, with a drop of more than 3,200 feet, belongs to the Angel Falls in Venezuela and is fed by the Gauja river.

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