Wide and Wonderful Waterfalls

donkeypong (75) in nature • 8 years ago (edited)

Waterfalls are one of nature’s greatest wonders. I love water in many of its natural forms (lakes, oceans, rivers, creeks), but nothing is so violent and yet so peaceful as a waterfall. Everyone loves tall waterfalls, but the wide ones are a visual treat.

Recently, scientists told us that the English Channel was once spanned by a land bridge, made from the same chalky material as the White Cliffs of Dover. 450,000 years ago, when a glacial lake burst, the channel was flooded. For a time, this land bridge became a gigantic waterfall.

Land Bridge.jpg

The waterfall was as high as 350 feet (106 meters) tall. But its most amazing feature was its length: 20 miles (32 kilometers) long! Of course, that was really its width, not its length. The waterfall was spilling over the land bridge all the way from Britain to France, which would have made quite a sight.

If you’re sorry that you missed this spectacle, don’t be. Our world today does not have any 20-mile wide waterfalls, but there are some really, really wide ones that are quite incredible. Victoria Falls and Iguazu Falls are the most famous of these, but there are other amazing ones that are less well known. To be accurate, some of them are what scientists call "cataracts" - a series of falls that break up the water over a wide area, rather than one single formation.

Here are some of the widest waterfalls in the world. All are on my future travel list.

Khone Falls, Laos/Cambodia

The Khone Pha Pheng waterfall in southern Laos has the largest volume of water of any waterfall in the world. The Mekong River tumbles over ledges of basalt as it spills into Cambodia. While it isn’t as tall as some waterfalls, the volume of water being moved per second at the Khone is about twice as much as at Niagara Falls.

Khone Tango7174.jpg
Khone Falls. Wikimedia (Creative Commons) by Tango7174.

The Khone is also the world’s widest waterfall at more than 6 miles (9.7 kilometers) in width.

Salto Para Falls, Venezuela

Para Falls is not as picturesque or well known as South America’s more famous Iguazu Falls (also mentioned below). Para is 18,400 feet (5,600 meters) wide. It drains a large volume of water coming down the Caura River, one of the tributaries of the Orinoco River. At this spot where the river is split, there is an island in the middle, and the water proceeds down from a highland rainforest region to the plains below.

Kongou Falls, Gabon

Ivindo National Park in Gabon is one of the world’s most biodiverse regions, both in its forest and in Ivindo River, home to a wide range of fish species. Those who have seen Kongou Falls call it one of the world’s most beautiful waterfalls. It is the site of a planned government dam, which would would affect the pristine nature of this site.

Mocona Falls (Salto do Yacuma), Brazil/Argentina

Mocona/Yacuma Falls is very special because the river runs parallel to the falls. You can visit it and travel down the river by boat, taking in the incredible wall of cascading water for its whole width. How wide is it? About 3 kilometers (1.86 miles). This has to be one of the most beautiful and underrated falls on the planet.

Some Other Popular Wide Waterfalls

The fact that others are underrated certainly does not make these two overrated. They are worth every drop of their popularity. Here are some quick views of Iguazu and Victoria Falls. And there are several other great falls such as Niagara Falls which I would happily include also, but this post is getting long enough already!