The river starts in the Mwinilunga district, in the far north-west of Zambia, where you can step over it. Then it grows. It flows through Angola for a bit, swings back into Zambia, forms the long border with Zimbabwe (this is where Victoria Falls is), then runs through Mozambique before pouring into the Indian Ocean.
Along its long journey, the Zambezi shows lots of different faces. Near the source, it is shallow and calm. By the time it reaches Victoria Falls, it is more than a kilometre wide. After the falls, it squeezes through narrow gorges with rapids. Then it slows down again into wide, calm stretches where hippos and crocodiles sunbathe on the banks.
Two huge man-made lakes have been built on the river: Lake Kariba (on the Zambia-Zimbabwe border) and Lake Cabora Bassa (in Mozambique). The dams that made them produce electricity for millions of homes. When Lake Kariba was filled in the 1950s and 60s, it became one of the largest man-made lakes in the world.
Lots of people live and work along the river. Fishermen go out in long wooden canoes called 'banana boats' to catch tiger fish and bream. The flooded plains either side of the river are perfect for growing rice. The whole valley is full of birds - over 700 species have been spotted along the Zambezi.