On an outing with his friends and their wives and girlfriends, Roy George Tinashe Dikinya, 40, missed a step and slipped walking parallel to the edge of the canyon.
The surfaces were wet and slippery due to heavy rains and he couldn’t catch his grip, slipped off the rocks and eventually fell from a height of about 108 meters, his friends told CNN.
Dikinya, who was originally from Harare, lived in Victoria Falls for a year and knew the area well.
His body was found on January 2, but the area where he fell was difficult for rescuers to access because the river was high after heavy rains.
People have drowned on the spot before, but this was the first time anyone had fallen into the canyon, Farawo said.
A video seen by CNN shows his remains being lifted over the edge of the cliff again with a zip line and pulley system. The rescue also involved the military, miners and volunteers from the tourism industry, Farawo added.
Dikinya was a fitness instructor and the father of twin boys, Trey and Lionel, and two girls, Hayli and Taya from a previous relationship.
“I was hoping shortly after the drop that he would make it because he is fit and strong and a good swimmer,” said his partner, Mazwi Shamu, during a phone call with CNN while transporting Dikinya’s remains to Harare on Thursday.
“I had so much hope that he might have clung to a rock or fell into the water and swam to shore.”
The couple planned to announce their recent engagement to friends and family and had plans to travel across Asia, Shamu said.
“He was determined and a hard worker who wanted to have a life of his own,” his mother, Eileen Gowera-Dikinya, told CNN over the phone. He joked a lot and was an entertainer, she added, laughing heartily at some of her memories of him.
Dikinya was a foodie who was determined to help others lead a healthy lifestyle, his mother said.
He built a gym at his home so that the locals could come and work out, and he encouraged those around him to exercise and eat well.
He was a football fanatic and a fan of Dynamos Football Club in Harare and regularly attended matches on Sundays, his best friend Reginald Matinanga said.
“He was practically family and I will cherish those moments and memories forever,” he said.
Located on the western tip of Zimbabwe, this Victoria Falls National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Often listed as one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World, the falls are known by the local Kololo tribe as “Mosi-oa-Tunya” – meaning “the smoke that thunders”.
At 1.7 kilometers in width and up to 100 meters in height, they are not the highest or widest waterfalls in the world, but many consider them the most spectacular.
ZPWMA manages one of the largest estates in the country, which is approximately 5 million hectares or 13% of Zimbabwe’s total land area.