What is the tallest waterfall in the world?
Quick answer
Angel Falls in Venezuela is the world’s tallest uninterrupted waterfall. Its water drops about 979 m (3,212 ft) in total, including a single unbroken plunge of about 807 m (2,648 ft), roughly 15 times the height of Niagara Falls. It pours off the edge of Auyán-tepui, a flat-topped mountain in Canaima National Park.
Key facts
- Location
- Canaima National Park, Venezuela
- Total height
- About 979 m (3,212 ft)
- Longest single drop
- About 807 m (2,648 ft)
- Indigenous name
- Kerepakupai Merú
Named after a pilot
American aviator Jimmie Angel flew over the falls in 1933 while searching for gold. In 1937, he landed his plane on top of Auyán-tepui, but its wheels sank into the bog and it couldn’t take off again. Angel, his wife and two companions walked for 11 days back to civilization. His plane was later removed and restored; a replica stands at the airport in Ciudad Bolívar.
The Pemón people call the falls Kerepakupai Merú, meaning “waterfall of the deepest place.”
Tepuis: islands in the sky
Tepuis are huge table-top mountains with sheer cliffs, rising from the rainforest of the Guiana Highlands. Their rocks are among the oldest on Earth, about 2 billion years old. Isolated on their summits, many plants and animals live nowhere else. They inspired Arthur Conan Doyle’s novel The Lost World and the floating mountains in Pixar’s Up.
Mist, not water
The drop is so high that during the dry season much of the water turns into mist before reaching the bottom.
The world’s tallest waterfalls
| Waterfall | Country | Height (approx.) |
|---|---|---|
| Angel Falls | Venezuela | 979 m |
| Tugela Falls | South Africa | 948 m (some sources say taller) |
| Tres Hermanas Falls | Peru | 914 m |
| Olo’upena Falls | Hawaii, USA | 900 m |
Measurements vary, and some researchers argue that Tugela Falls is taller. Angel Falls holds the record for the longest single drop.
Other record waterfalls
- Largest sheet of falling water: Victoria Falls, on the Zambia–Zimbabwe border
- Widest: Khone Falls, Laos
- Largest underwater “waterfall”: The Denmark Strait cataract, where cold water sinks about 3.5 km below the ocean surface
Visiting
There are no roads. Visitors fly to Canaima and then travel by boat up the rivers in the wet season (roughly June–December), when water flow is strongest. For South America’s great rainforest, see the largest rainforest in the world.
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