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Waterfalls

Waterfalls

Be very wary of questions that ask about the highest waterfall in any particular location (country, continent, etc.)  The problem is that it's so hard to measure.

There is no dispute about the world's highest waterfall – Angel Falls has it.

Around the UK it's a different story: in England there are at least four claimants (see below), and it's a similar story in Wales.  The UK's highest waterfall is Eas a' Chual Aluinn (200m, 658 ft), which is in a remote location in the Highlands of Scotland – but you're unlikely to get asked about this in a quiz (in England, at least) because no one can pronounce it.

It's the same in the USA: Yosemite is often said to be the highest, but Wikipedia lists five that are higher – three in Hawaii and two in Washington state.  It goes on to contradict this claim in its Yosemite Falls article, which claims that it's the seventh highest in the world (the Highest Waterfalls page has it at number 20).

There are other questions that you can ask about waterfalls though ...

The World's highest waterfall (979m, 3,212 ft) – on the Caroní River, a tributary of the Orinoco, in Venezuela Click to show or hide the answer
Ribbon Falls (1,612 feet) Click to show or hide the answer
Angel Falls are on the river Click to show or hide the answer
England's longest waterfall, probably (length 200 yards; total drop 60m / 200 ft, broken cascade): on the upper reaches of the Tees, just below Cow Green Reservoir Click for more information Click to show or hide the answer
England's highest waterfall above ground: total drop 198m / 650 feet (broken cascade): in the Howgill Fells, Cumbria.  (Note: Wikipedia claims that Gaping Gill has a longer drop (underground), but gives it as 105m / 305 ft) Click to show or hide the answer
England's highest unbroken waterfall (30m / 105 ft) – named after the nearby village, in Wensleydale, and the beck that forms it Click to show or hide the answer
Famous waterfall (total drop 29m) formed where the River Tees crosses the Whin sill – often said to be England's highest, but see Cautley Spout, Cauldron Snout, Hardraw Force) Click to show or hide the answer
Canadian half of Niagara Falls (as opposed to the American Falls); also an artificial waterfall on the River Dee at Llangollen Click to show or hide the answer
Spectacular falls on the eponymous river that forms (part of) the border between Brazil and Argentina – name means "big water" in the local language – on seeing it, Eleanor Roosevelt said "Poor Niagara!" – provisionally named in 2011 as one of the "New 7 Wonders of the World" Click to show or hide the answer
Powerscourt Waterfall is the highest in Click to show or hide the answer
Single–drop waterfall at the southeast end of Lake Tanganyika – on the river of the same name, which here forms the border between Zambia and Tanzania; one of the tallest uninterrupted waterfalls in Africa, at 772–foot / 235 m, and an important archaeological site, with occupation spanning over 250,000 years Click for more information Click to show or hide the answer
Sutherland Falls (once thought to be the world–s highest) Click to show or hide the answer
River in Niagara Falls Click to show or hide the answer
Greatest volume of water (after the submerging of three others – one on the Brazil–Paraguay border and two in the USA – to form reservoirs) Click to show or hide the answer
Described by Father Louis Hennepin, a Belgian missionary who travelled to New France in the 1670s, in a book published in 1683 entitled A New Discovery
Bypassed by the Welland Canal
Europe's highest waterfalls (up to 16, depending on source; including the world's third highest, according to some, but sixth and seventh highest according to others) are all in Click to show or hide the answer
Occupation of Jimmy Angel, after whom the Angel Falls were named Click to show or hide the answer
Often said to be Wales's highest waterfall – probably the best known of the claimants – name means "spring of the waterfall" Click to show or hide the answer
Tugela Falls – the world's second highest (not all in one drop) are in Click to show or hide the answer
Boyoma Falls (a series of cataracts over a 60–mile stretch of the upper Congo River): former name Click to show or hide the answer
The world's second highest waterfall (in the Drakensberg mountains, KwaZulu Natal, South Africa) Click to show or hide the answer
Murchison Falls Click to show or hide the answer
Angel Falls (the world's highest) are in Click to show or hide the answer
Known locally as 'The smoke that thunders'; lies on the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe; neither the highest nor the widest falls in the world, but claimed to be the biggest – 1,708 m (5,604 ft) wide by 108 metres (354 ft) high Click to show or hide the answer
Owen Falls, Ripon Falls (the latter submerged 1954 in a hydroelectric scheme that took the name of the former) Click to show or hide the answer
California's highest waterfall – named after the National Park that contains it Click to show or hide the answer
Victoria Falls are on the Click to show or hide the answer

© Haydn Thompson 2017–21