Kaieteur Falls Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids Kaieteur
Kaieteur, Guyana, in rainy season 2004

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Location	Guyana
Coordinates	5°10′30″N 59°28′49.8″W / 5.17500°N 59.480500°W / 5.17500; -59.480500
Type	Plunge
Total height	741 feet/226 metres
Number of drops	1 (highest flow single drop waterfall of the world)
Longest drop	741 feet/226 metres
Average width	371 feet/113 metres
Watercourse	Potaro River
Average flow rate	660 m³/s (23,000 cu ft/s)
World height ranking	123

Kaieteur Falls is an amazing single-drop waterfall located in Guyana, a country in South America. It's found on the Potaro River inside the Kaieteur National Park. This park is part of the huge Amazon rainforest in the Potaro-Siparuni region of Guyana.

The main drop of Kaieteur Falls is 226 metres (741 feet) high. This is measured from the top of its cliff down to where the water first breaks. After this, the water flows over more steep sections, making the total height about 251 metres (822 feet).

Even though some waterfalls are taller, very few have both its height and its huge amount of water. Kaieteur Falls is one of the most powerful waterfalls in the world! It has an average flow rate of 663 cubic metres (23,400 cubic feet) of water per second.

To give you an idea of how big it is, Kaieteur Falls is about four and a half times taller than Niagara Falls. Niagara Falls is on the border between Canada and the United States. Kaieteur is also about twice as tall as Victoria Falls, which is in Africa between Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Upriver from the falls, you'll find the Potaro Plateau. This area stretches out towards the distant Pakaraima Mountains. The Potaro River eventually flows into the Essequibo River, which is the longest river in Guyana.

History and Legends of Kaieteur Falls
Visiting Kaieteur Falls
Kaieteur Falls in Popular Culture
Images for kids
Gallery
See also

History and Legends of Kaieteur Falls

How Europeans Discovered the Falls

Kaieteur Falls was first seen by Europeans in 1870. This happened during an expedition led by Charles Barrington Brown. He was a British geologist and a government surveyor for the colony of British Guiana (which is now Guyana).

Brown and his partner, James Gay Sawkins, arrived in Georgetown in 1867. They worked together on maps and geological reports. Brown returned a year after his first visit to measure the falls carefully.

Brown later wrote books about his adventures. His book Canoe and Camp life in British Guiana was published in 1876. Two years later, he published Fifteen Thousand Miles on the Amazon and its tributaries.

Ancient Legends of the Falls

There are a few interesting legends about how Kaieteur Falls got its name. One popular story comes from the Patamona people, an Indigenous group.

According to this legend, the falls were named after a chief, or Toshao, named Kai. He bravely sacrificed himself to save his people. He paddled his canoe over the falls as an offering to Makonaima, the great spirit.

Another legend was told to Charles Brown by the local Amerindians when he first discovered the falls. This story says that Kaieteur was named after an unpleasant old man. His relatives put him in a boat and pushed him over the falls. So, "Kaieteur" means "old-man-fall."

Modern Exploration of the Falls

In April 2019, an explorer named Zach Shah went on an expedition. He, along with two park rangers and a biologist, went down to the very bottom of Kaieteur Falls. There hadn't been much rain, so the water volume was lower than usual. This made it possible to get closer to the bottom than ever before.

After a long 12-hour hike and climb, Zach Shah took photos from the bottom. These pictures are some of the only ones that exist from that unique viewpoint.

Visiting Kaieteur Falls

Kaieteur Falls is a very popular place for tourists to visit in Guyana. It is located right in the middle of Guyana's beautiful rainforest, within the Kaieteur National Park.

To get to the park, visitors usually fly into Kaieteur International Airport. This airport is only about a 15-minute walk from the top of the falls. There are frequent flights from this airport to Ogle Airport and Cheddi Jagan International Airport in Georgetown.

Kaieteur Falls in Popular Culture

Kaieteur Falls has been featured in many different shows and books:

It appeared in the documentary film The White Diamond by Werner Herzog.
It was also seen in Animal Planet's River Monsters with Jeremy Wade.
In the science fiction animation TV series G Gundam, the main character trains and bathes under the falls before his final fight.
The falls are shown in the opening credits of the fourth season of the Discovery Channel's series "Gold Rush" (2013). It also appeared in some episodes of that season.
In episode 6 of David Attenborough's series Life on Earth, the native frogs that live in the moist conditions around the falls are discussed.
In episode 1 of Steve Backshall's series Deadly Adventures, Steve abseiled to the bottom of the falls and camped overnight.
The ending of the final episode of the fourth season of River Monsters features the falls.
Evelyn Waugh wrote about the falls in his 1934 travel book, Ninety-two Days.