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		Angel Falls
Ribbon Falls (1,612 feet)		California
Angel Falls are on the river		Caroni
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		Cauldron Snout
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)		Cautley Spout
England's highest unbroken waterfall (30m / 105 ft) – named after the nearby village, in Wensleydale, and the beck that forms it		Hardraw Force
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)		High Force
Canadian half of Niagara Falls (as opposed to the American Falls); also an artificial waterfall on the River Dee at Llangollen		Horseshoe Falls
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"		Iguazu Falls
Powerscourt Waterfall is the highest in		Ireland
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		Kalambo Falls
Sutherland Falls (once thought to be the world–s highest)		New Zealand
River in Niagara Falls		Niagara
Greatest volume of water (after the submerging of three others – one on the Brazil–Paraguay border and two in the USA – to form reservoirs)		Niagara
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		Norway
Occupation of Jimmy Angel, after whom the Angel Falls were named		Pilot
Often said to be Wales's highest waterfall – probably the best known of the claimants – name means "spring of the waterfall"		Pistyll Rhaeadr
Tugela Falls – the world's second highest (not all in one drop) are in		South Africa
Boyoma Falls (a series of cataracts over a 60–mile stretch of the upper Congo River): former name		Stanley Falls
The world's second highest waterfall (in the Drakensberg mountains, KwaZulu Natal, South Africa)		Tugela Falls
Murchison Falls		Uganda
Angel Falls (the world's highest) are in		Venezuela
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		Victoria Falls
Owen Falls, Ripon Falls (the latter submerged 1954 in a hydroelectric scheme that took the name of the former)		White Nile
California's highest waterfall – named after the National Park that contains it		Yosemite
Victoria Falls are on the		Zambesi

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Waterfalls