Ouzoud Waterfalls (French: Cascades d'Ouzoud) (110 m high) are located in the Grand Atlas village of Tanaghmeilt, in the province of Azilal, 150 km north-east of Marrakech, in Morocco.

It is the most visited site of the region. In the vicinity, Green valleys, mills, orchards and a superb circuit of the gorges of the El Abid River (in Arabic, "Slaves' River" ), are found.

Ouzoud is the Berber word for "olive", referring to the nearby olive trees.

The bottom of the falls is accessible through a shaded path of olive trees. At the summit of the falls, there exist a dozen of old small mills that are still in use. In the twilight, one can observe whole troops of monkeys. One can also follow a narrow and difficult track leading to the road of Beni Mellal while descending the gorges from the "wadi el-Abid" by a canyon sometimes which one does not distinguish the bottom with nearly 600 meters.

Many local and national associations lead projects to protect and preserve the site.

credited to wikipedia and flickr: Trysk 

The Gouina Falls or Chutes de Gouina are on the Sénégal River in Mali between the towns of Bafoulabé (upstream) and Diamou (downstream) in the Kayes Region, where the river runs north from the Talari Gorges.

They have been called the "Niagara falls of Mali". The river is about 500 m wide at this point, and drops 16 m over the falls. The volume of water is 12-13 m3 per second in the dry season, and up to 2430 m3 in the rainy season.

The government of Mali is investigating the possibility of developing the electric power potential of the Senegal River: the smaller Falls of Félou downstream and the Gouina Falls have the power potential of 100MW.

credited to wikipedia

The Blue Nile Falls are a waterfall on the Blue Nile river in Ethiopia. They are known as Tis Issat in Amharic, when translated, means "smoking water" They are situated on the upper course of the river, about 30 kilometers downstream from the town of Bahir Dar and Lake Tana. The falls are considered one of Ethiopia's best known tourist attractions.

The falls are estimated to be between 37 and 45 meters high, consisting of four streams that originally varied from a trickle in the dry season to over 400 meters wide in the rainy season. Regulation of Lake Tana now reduces the variation somewhat, and since 2003 a hydro-electric station has taken much of the flow out of the falls except during the rainy season.

The Blue Nile Falls have isolated the ecology of Lake Tana from the ecology of the rest of the Nile, and this isolation has played a role in the evolution of the endemic fauna of the lake.

A short distance downstream from the falls sits the first stone bridge constructed in Ethiopia, built at the command of Emperor Susenyos in 1626. According to Manoel de Almeida, stone for making lime had been found nearby along the tributary Alata, and a craftsman who had come from India with Alfonso Mendez, the Catholic Patriarch of Ethiopia supervised the construction.

credited to wikipedia and flickr: maksid

The Augrabies Falls is a waterfall on the Orange River, South Africa, within the Augrabies Falls National Park. The falls are around 60m in height. The original Khoikhoi residents named the waterfall Ankoerebis, "place of big noises", from which the Trek Boers, who settled here later on, derived the name Augrabies.

The falls have recorded 7,800 cubic metres (280,000 cu ft) of water every second in floods in 1988 (and 6,800 cubic metres (240,000 cu ft) in the floods of 2006). This is over three times the average high season flow rate of Niagara Falls of 2,400 cubic metres (85,000 cu ft) per second, more than four times Niagara's annual average, and greater than Niagara's all time record of 6,800 cubic metres (240,000 cu ft) per second.

The gorge at the Augrabies Falls is 240 m deep and 18 km long, and is an impressive example of granite erosion.

credited to wikipedia and flickr: Ottie

The Niagara Falls are voluminous waterfalls on the Niagara River, straddling the international border between the Canadian province of Ontario and the U.S. state of New York. The falls are 17 miles (27 km) north-northwest of Buffalo, New York and 75 miles (120 km) south-southeast of Toronto, Ontario, between the twin cities of Niagara Falls, Ontario, and Niagara Falls, New York.

Niagara Falls is composed of two major sections separated by Goat Island: Horseshoe Falls, the majority of which lies on the Canadian side of the border, and American Falls on the American side. The smaller Bridal Veil Falls are also located on the American side, separated from the main falls by Luna Island.

Niagara Falls were formed when glaciers receded at the end of the Wisconsin glaciation (the last ice age), and water from the newly formed Great Lakes carved a path through the Niagara Escarpment en route to the Atlantic Ocean. While not exceptionally high, the Niagara Falls are very wide. More than 6 million cubic feet (168,000 m³) of water falls over the crest line every minute in high flow, and almost 4 million cubic feet (110,000 m³) on average. It is the most powerful waterfall in North America.

The Niagara Falls are renowned both for their beauty and as a valuable source of hydroelectric power. Managing the balance between recreational, commercial, and industrial uses has been a challenge for the stewards of the falls since the 1800s.

Characteristics

Niagara Falls is divided into the Horseshoe Falls and the American Falls. The Horseshoe Falls drop about 173 feet (53 m), the height of the American Falls varies between 70–100 feet (21–30 m) because of the presence of giant boulders at its base. The larger Horseshoe Falls are about 2,600 feet (790 m) wide, while the American Falls are 1,060 feet (320 m) wide.

The volume of water approaching the falls during peak flow season may sometimes be as much as 202,000 cubic feet (5,700 m3) per second. Since the flow is a direct function of the Lake Erie water elevation, it typically peaks in late spring or early summer. During the summer months, 100,000 cubic feet (2,800 m3) per second of water actually traverses the Falls, some 90% of which goes over the Horseshoe Falls, while the balance is diverted to hydroelectric facilities. This is accomplished by employing a weir with movable gates upstream from the Horseshoe Falls. The Falls flow is further halved at night, and during the low tourist season in the winter, remains a flat 50,000 cubic feet (1,400 m3) per second. Water diversion is regulated by the 1950 Niagara Treaty and is administered by the International Niagara Board of Control (IJC). Viewpoints on the American shore generally are astride or behind the falls. The falls face directly toward the Canadian shore.

Geology

The features that became Niagara Falls were created by the Wisconsin glaciation, about 10,000 years ago. The same forces also created the North American Great Lakes and the Niagara River. All were dug by a continental ice sheet that drove through the area, deepening some river channels to form lakes, and damming others with debris. Scientists believe that there is an old valley, buried by glacial drift, at the approximate location of the present Welland Canal.

When the ice melted, the upper Great Lakes emptied into the Niagara River, which followed the rearranged topography across the Niagara Escarpment. In time, the river cut a gorge through the north facing cliff, or cuesta. Because of the interactions of three major rock formations, the rocky bed did not erode evenly. The top rock formation was composed of erosion-resistant limestone and Lockport dolostone. That hard layer of stone eroded more slowly than the underlying materials. The aerial photo clearly shows the hard caprock, the Lockport Formation (Middle Silurian), which underlies the rapids above the Falls, and approximately the upper third of the high gorge wall.

Immediately below the hard-rock formation, comprising about two thirds of the cliff, lay the weaker, softer, sloping Rochester Formation (Lower Silurian). This formation was composed mainly of shale, though it has some thin limestone layers. It also contains ancient fossils. In time, the river eroded the soft layer that supported the hard layers, undercutting the hard caprock, which gave way in great chunks. This process repeated countless times, eventually carving out the Falls.

Submerged in the river in the lower valley, hidden from view, is the Queenston Formation (Upper Ordovician), which is composed of shales and fine sandstones. All three formations were laid down in an ancient sea, their differences of character deriving from changing conditions within that sea.

The Niagara Falls at one time in history was located between present-day Queenston, Ontario, and Lewiston, New York, but erosion of their crest has caused the waterfalls to retreat approximately 6.8 miles or 11 kilometers southward. The Horseshoe Falls, which are approximately 2,600 feet (790 m) wide, have also changed their shape through the process of erosion; evolving from a small arch, to a horseshoe bend, to the present day gigantic inverted V. Just upstream from the Falls' current location, Goat Island splits the course of the Niagara River, resulting in the separation of the Canadian Horseshoe Falls to the west from the American and Bridal Veil Falls to the east. Engineering has slowed erosion and recession.

History

There are differing theories as to the origin of the name of the falls. According to Iroquoian scholar Bruce Trigger, "Niagara" is derived from the name given to a branch of the locally residing native Neutral Confederacy, who are described as being called the "Niagagarega" people on several late 17th century French maps of the area.

A number of figures have been suggested as first circulating an eyewitness description of Niagara Falls. Frenchman Samuel de Champlain visited the area as early as 1604 during his exploration of Canada, and members of his party reported to him the spectacular waterfalls, which he described in his journals. Finnish-Swedish naturalist Pehr Kalm explored the area in the early 1700s and wrote of the experience. The consensus honoree is Belgian Father Louis Hennepin, who observed and described the Falls in 1677, earlier than Kalm, after traveling with explorer René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle, thus bringing the Falls to the attention of Europeans. Further complicating matters, there is credible evidence that French Jesuit Reverend Paul Ragueneau visited the Falls some 35 years before Hennepin's visit, while working among the Huron First Nation in Canada.

Jean de Brébeuf also may have visited the Falls, while spending time with the Neutral Nation.

During the 18th century, tourism became popular, and by mid-century, it was the area's main industry. Napoleon Bonaparte's brother Jérôme visited with his bride in the early 19th century. In 1837 during the Caroline affair a rebel supply ship, the Caroline, was burned and sent over the Falls. Demand for passage over the Niagara River led in 1848 to the building of a footbridge and then Charles Ellet's Niagara Suspension Bridge. This was supplanted by German-born John Augustus Roebling's Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge in 1855. After the American Civil War, the New York Central railroad publicized Niagara Falls as a focus of pleasure and honeymoon visits. With increased railroad traffic, in 1886, Leffert Buck replaced Roebling's wood and stone bridge with the predominantly steel bridge that still carries trains over the Niagara River today. The first steel archway bridge near the Falls was completed in 1897. Known today as the Whirlpool Rapids Bridge, it carries vehicles, trains, and pedestrians between Canada (through Canadian Customs Border Control) and the U.S.A. just below the Falls. In 1941 the Niagara Falls Bridge Commission completed the third current crossing in the immediate area of Niagara Falls with the Rainbow Bridge, carrying both pedestrian and vehicular traffic between the two countries and Canadian and U.S. customs for each country.

After the First World War, tourism boomed again as automobiles made getting to the Falls much easier. The story of Niagara Falls in the 20th century is largely that of efforts to harness the energy of the Falls for hydroelectric power, and to control the development on both sides that threaten the area's natural beauty.

credited to wikipedia

Iguazu Falls, Iguassu Falls, or Iguaçu Falls are waterfalls of the Iguazu River located on the border of the Brazilian state of Paraná and the Argentine province of Misiones. The falls divide the river into the upper and lower Iguazu.

Toponymy

Their name comes from the Guarani or Tupi words y (IPA:[ɨ]) (water) and ûasú (IPA:[wa'su]) (big). Legend has it that a god planned to marry a beautiful aborigine named Naipí, who fled with her mortal lover Tarobá in a canoe. In rage, the god sliced the river creating the waterfalls, condemning the lovers to an eternal fall. The first European to find the falls was the Spanish Conquistador Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca in 1541, after whom one of the falls in the Argentine side is named. The falls were rediscovered by Boselli at the end of the nineteenth century, and one of the Argentine falls is named after him.

Iguazu Falls was short-listed as a candidate to be one of the New7Wonders of Nature by the New Seven Wonders of the World Foundation. As of February 2009 it was ranking fifth in Group F, the category for lake, rivers, and waterfalls.

Geography

The waterfall system consists of 275 falls along 2.7 kilometers (1.67 miles) of the Iguazu River. Some of the individual falls are up to 82 meters (269 ft) in height, though the majority are about 64 metres (210 ft). The Devil's Throat (Garganta del Diablo in Spanish or Garganta do Diabo in Portuguese), a U-shaped, 82-meter-high, 150-meter-wide and 700-meter-long (490 by 2300 feet) cataract, is the most impressive of all, and marks the border between Argentina and Brazil. Two thirds of the falls are within Argentine territory. About 900 meters of the 2.7-kilometer length does not have water flowing over it. The edge of the basalt cap recedes only 3 mm (0.1 in) per year. The water of the lower Iguazu collects in a canyon that drains in the Paraná River at Argentina, shortly downstream from the Itaipu dam.

Access

The falls can be reached from the two main towns on either side of the falls: Foz do Iguaçu in the Brazilian sarantonello Puerto Iguazú in the Argentina province of Misiones as well as from Ciudad del Este (Paraguay) on the other side of the Parana river from Foz do Iguaçu. The falls are shared by Iguaçu National Park]] (Brazil). These parks were designated UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1984 and 1987, respectively.

On the Brazilian side there is a long walkway along the canyon with an extension to the lower base of the Devil's Throat. From Foz do Iguaçu airport the park can be reached by taxi (R$ 15-17) or bus (no 120) to entrance of the park. There is an entrance fee to the park. Free frequent buses are provided to various points within the park.The park opens at 9 am and closes at 5.30 pm. The town of Foz do Iguaçu is about 20 kms away and the airport is in between the park and the town.

The Argentine access is facilitated by the Rainforest Ecological Train, which brings visitors to different walkways. The Paseo Garganta del Diablo is a one-kilometer-long trail that brings the visitor directly over the falls of the Devil's Throat. Other walkways allow access to the elongated stretch of falls on the Argentine side and to the ferry that connects to San Martin island.

Comparisons to other famous falls

Upon seeing Iguazu, the United States, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt reportedly exclaimed "Poor Niagara!" Iguazu is also often compared with Southern Africa's Victoria Falls which separates Zambia and Zimbabwe. Iguazu is wider, but because it is split into about 270 discrete falls and large islands, Victoria is the largest curtain of water in the world, at over 1,600 m (5,249 ft) wide and over 100 m (328 ft) in height (in low flow Victoria is split into five by islands; in high flow it can be uninterrupted). The only wider falls are extremely large rapid-like falls such as the Boyoma Falls). With the flooding of the Guaíra Falls in 1982, Iguazu currently has the second greatest average annual flow of any waterfall in the world, after Niagara, with an average rate of 1746 m³/s.

The water falling over Iguazu in peak flow has a surface area of about 40 Ha (1.3 million ft²) whilst Victoria in peak flow has a surface area of over 55 ha (1.8 million ft²). By comparison, Niagara has a surface area of under 18.3 ha (600,000 ft²). Victoria's annual peak flow very similar maximum water discharge (well in excess of 12,000 m³/s). Niagara's average flow is about 2,400 m³/s, although an all-time peak of 8,269 has been recorded. Iguazu and Victoria fluctuate more greatly in their flow rate. Mist rises between 30 metres (98 ft) and 150 m (492 ft) from Iguazu's Devil's Throat, and over 300 m (984 ft) above Victoria.

However, Iguazu affords better views and walkways and its shape allows for spectacular vistas. At one point a person can stand and be surrounded by 260 degrees of waterfalls. The Devil's Throat, in Argentina, has water pouring into it from three sides. Likewise, because Iguazu is split into many relatively small falls, one can view these a portion at a time. Victoria does not allow this, as it is essentially one waterfall that falls into a canyon and is too immense to appreciate at once (except from the air).

credited to wikipedia

The Victoria Falls or Mosi-oa-Tunya (the Smoke that Thunders) is a waterfall located in southern Africa on the Zambezi River between the countries of Zambia and Zimbabwe. The falls are some of the largest in the world.

Introduction

The Victoria Falls are one of the most famously considered by some to be among the Seven Natural Wonders of the World. David Livingstone, the Scottish missionary and explorer, is believed to have been the first European recorded to view the Victoria Falls - which he did from what is now known as 'Livingstone Island' in Zambia, the only land accessible in the middle of the falls. David Livingstone gave the falls the name 'Victoria Falls' in honour of his Queen, but the indigenous name of 'Mosi-oa-Tunya' - literally meaning the 'Smoke that Thunders' - is also well known. The World Heritage List recognises both names. While it is neither the highest nor the widest waterfall in the world, it is claimed to be the largest. This claim is based on a width of 1,708 metres (5,604 ft) and height of 108 meters (360 ft), forming the largest sheet of falling water in the world. The falls' maximum flow rate compares well with that of other major waterfalls

Physical features

For a considerable distance above the falls, the Zambezi flows over a level sheet of basalt, in a shallow valley bounded by low and distant sandstone hills. The river's course is dotted with numerous tree-covered islands, which increase in number as the river approaches the falls. There are no mountains, escarpments, or deep valleys which might be expected to create a waterfall, only flat plateau extending hundreds of kilometres in all directions.

The falls are formed as the full width of the river plummets in a single vertical drop into a transverse chasm 1708 meters (5604 ft) wide, carved by its waters along a fracture zone in the basalt plateau. The depth of the chasm, called the First Gorge, varies from 80 metres (262 ft) at its western end to 108 metres (360 ft) in the centre. The only outlet to the First Gorge is a 110-metre-wide (360 ft) gap about two-thirds of the way across the width of the falls from the western end, through which the whole volume of the river pours into the Victoria Falls gorges.

There are two islands on the crest of the falls that are large enough to divide the curtain of water even at full flood: Boaruka Island (or Cataract Island) near the western bank, and Livingstone Island near the middle - the place that David Livingstone first saw the falls from in Zambia. At less than full flood, additional islets divide the curtain of water into separate parallel streams. The main streams are named, in order from Zimbabwe (west) to Zambia (east): Devil's Cataract (called Leaping Water by some), Main Falls, Rainbow Falls (the highest) and the Eastern Cataract.

Flood and dry season flow rates

The Zambezi basin above the falls experiences a rainy season from late November to early April, and a dry season the rest of the year. The river's annual flood season is February to May with a peak in April, The spray from the falls typically rises to a height of over 400 metres (1,300 ft), and sometimes even twice as high, and is visible from up to 50 km (30 miles) away. At full moon, a "moonbow" can be seen in the spray instead of the usual daylight rainbow. During the flood season, however, it is impossible to see the foot of the falls and most of its face, and the walks along the cliff opposite it are in a constant shower and shrouded in mist. Close to the edge of the cliff, spray shoots upward like inverted rain, especially at Zambia's Knife-Edge Bridge.

As the dry season takes effect, the islets on the crest become wider and more numerous, and in September to January up to half of the rocky face of the falls may become dry and the bottom of the First Gorge can be seen along most of its length. At this time it becomes possible (though not necessarily safe) to walk across some stretches of the river at the crest. It is also possible to walk to the bottom of the First Gorge at the Zimbabwean side. The minimum flow, which occurs in November, is around a tenth of the April figure; this variation in flow is greater than that of other major falls, and causes Victoria Falls' annual average flow rate to be lower than might be expected based on the maximum flow.

Victoria Falls is roughly thrice the height of North America's Niagara Falls and well over twice the width of its Horseshoe Falls. In height and width Victoria Falls is rivalled only by South America's Iguazu Falls.

The Victoria Falls Gorges

The whole volume of the Zambezi River pours through the First Gorge's 110-meter-wide (360 ft) exit for a distance of about 150 meters (500 ft), then enters a zigzagging series of gorges designated by the order in which the river reaches them. Water entering the Second Gorge makes a sharp right turn and has carved out a deep pool there called the Boiling Pot. Reached via a steep footpath from the Zambian side, it is about 150 metres (500 ft) across. Its surface is smooth at low water, but at high water is marked by enormous, slow swirls and heavy boiling turbulence. Objects—and humans—that are swept over the falls, including the occasional hippo, are frequently found swirling about here or washed up at the north-east end of the Second Gorge. This is where the bodies of Mrs Moss and Mr Orchard, mutilated by crocodiles, were found in 1910 after two canoes were capsized by a hippo at Long Island above the falls.

The principal gorges are:

First Gorge: the one the river falls into at Victoria Falls

Second Gorge: (spanned by the Victoria Falls Bridge), 250 m south of falls, 2.15 km long (270 yd south, 2350 yd long)

Third Gorge: 600 m south, 1.95 km long (650 yd south, 2100 yd long)

Fourth Gorge: 1.15 km south, 2.25 km long (1256 yd south, 2460 yd long)

Fifth Gorge: 2.55 km south, 3.2 km long (1.5 mi south, 2 mi long)

Songwe Gorge: 5.3 km south, 3.3 km long, (3.3 mi south, 2 mi long) named after the small Songwe River coming from the north-east, and the deepest at 140 m (460 ft), at the end of the dry season.

Batoka Gorge: The gorge below the Songwe is called the Batoka Gorge (which is also used as an umbrella name for all the gorges). It is about 120 kilometres (75 mi) long (the straight line distance to its end is about 80 kilometres (50 mi) east of the falls) and takes the river through the basalt plateau to the valley in which Lake Kariba now lies.

The walls of the gorges are nearly vertical and generally about 120 metres (400 ft) high, but the level of the river in them varies by up to 20 meters (65 ft) between wet and dry seasons.

Formation

The recent geological history of Victoria Falls can be seen in the form of the gorges below the falls. The basalt plateau over which the Upper Zambezi flows has many large cracks filled with weaker sandstone. In the area of the current falls the largest cracks run roughly east to west (some run nearly north-east to south-west), with smaller north-south cracks connecting them.

Over at least 100,000 years, the falls have been receding upstream through the Batoka Gorges, eroding the sandstone-filled cracks to form the gorges. The river's course in the current vicinity of the falls is north to south, so it opens up the large east-west cracks across its full width, then it cuts back through a short north-south crack to the next east-west one. The river has fallen in different eras into different chasms which now form a series of sharply zig-zagging gorges downstream from the falls.

Ignoring some dry sections, the Second to Fifth and the Songwe Gorges each represents a past site of the falls at a time when they fell into one long straight chasm as they do now. Their sizes indicate that we are not living in the age of the widest ever falls.

The falls have already started cutting back the next major gorge, at the dip in one side of the "Devil's Cataract" (also known as "Leaping Waters") section of the falls. This is not actually a north-south crack, but a large east-northeast line of weakness across the river, where the next full-width falls will eventually form.

Further geological history of the course of the Zambezi River is in the article of that name.

Natural environment

National parks

The two national parks at the falls are relatively small — Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park is 66 square kilometres (16,309 acres) and Victoria Falls National Park is 23 square kilometres (5,683 acres). However, next to the latter on the southern bank is the Zambezi National Park, extending 40 kilometers (25 mi) west along the river. Animals can move between the two Zimbabwean parks and can also reach Matetsi Safari Area, Kazuma Pan National Park and Hwange National Park to the south.

On the Zambian side, fences and the outskirts of Livingstone tend to confine most animals to the Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park. In addition fences put up by lodges in response to crime restrict animal movement.

Vegetation

Mopane woodland savannah predominates in the area, with smaller areas of Miombo and Rhodesian Teak woodland and scrubland savannah. Riverine forest with palm trees lines the banks and islands above the falls. The most notable aspect of the area's vegetation though is the rainforest nurtured by the spray from the falls, containing plants rare for the area such as pod mahogany, ebony, ivory palm, wild date palm and a number of creepers and lianas. Vegetation has suffered in recent droughts, and so have the animals that depend on it, particularly antelope.

Wildlife

The national parks contain abundant wildlife including sizable populations of elephant, buffalo, giraffe, zebra, and a variety of antelope. Lion and leopard are only occasionally seen. Vervet monkeys and baboons are common. The river above the falls contains large populations of hippopotamus and crocodile. Elephants cross the river in the dry season at particular crossing points.

Klipspringers and clawless otters can be glimpsed in the gorges, but they are mainly known for 35 species of raptors. The Taita Falcon, Black Eagle, Peregrine Falcon and Augur Buzzard breed there. Above the falls, herons, Fish Eagles and numerous kinds of waterfowl are common.

Fish

The river is home to 39 species of fish below the falls and 89 species above it, mostly black cod and slippery trout. This illustrates the effectiveness of the falls as a dividing barrier between the upper and lower Zambezi.

credited to wikipedia

The Wallaman Falls are notable for their single-drop of 268 metres, which is Australia's highest permanent waterfall. With the addition of additional related minor drops the overall height of the falls is approximately 340 metres. The pool at the end of the waterfall is 20 metres deep.

Formation

The waterfall is formed by a tributary of the Herbert River, Stony Creek, which plunges over an escarpment in the Seaview Range. The geological history of the formation may be traced back some 50 million years, when the uplift of the continental margin in this region resulted in the ancestral Herbert River to change its course from westwards to eastwards. As a result it began to cut through the raised igneous substrata en-route to its outflow in the Coral Sea. The gorge produced by this erosive action gradually retreated inland along the Herbert River's course, and in the process eventually causing tributaries such as Stony Creek to be suspended, forming the waterfall.

credited to wikipedia

Angel Falls or Salto Ángel is the world's highest free-falling waterfall at 3,212 feet with an uninterrupted drop of 2,648 feet lying in the Canaima National Park, Venezuela.It is situated on the Churún River, an affluent of the Carrao. Curún in indigenous Pemón language means "thunder."

Angel Falls is located in the Guayana highlands, one of the five topographical regions of Venezuela. It plunges off the edge of a tepui, or table-top mountain, called Auyan Tepui (“Devils Mountain”). It is 500 feet wide at its base and in total is 15 times higher than America's Niagara Falls.

Angel Falls is one of Venezuela's top tourist attractions, despite its remoteness and the absence of roads leading to nearby villages. One of the world's great natural wonders, Angel Falls inspires feelings of awe in the hearts of those who make the journey.

Angel Falls is situated in the Gran Sabana region of Venezuela. The periphery of this area is filled with grasslands, whereas deeper into the Gran Sabana one finds dense jungle. This part of the world is remarkable for its numerous tepuis, flat-topped mountains with vertical walls. Angel Falls is located on the side of an extremely large and high tepui known as Auyan Tepui.

Tourists sometimes refer to the stretch of the Churún River where the falls are located as the Auyan Tepui River, but the river that culminates in the drop is the Kerepakupai-merú. In the indigenous Pemón language Kerepakupai-merú means "waterfall of the deepest place."

There is an incredible variety of tropical wildlife in the area, including monkeys, poison arrow frogs, and hundreds of species of orchids. Aside from the monkeys, mammals in the area are generally difficult to spot but include giant anteaters, armadillos, porcupines, three-toed sloths, otters, jaguars, pumas, tapirs, and capybaras.

Lying within the Canaima National Park, Angel Falls is part of the plateau that underlies the lands located in Venezuela to the south of the Orinoco River. The plateau's age is estimated at two billion years. Important geological transformations can be seen at the park, from its beginnings in the Precambrian period dating back to the time of the formation of the supercontinent Pangaea.

This continent began to separate due to the formation of a fracture in the planet's crust resulting in the formation of the Atlantic Ocean, and the creation of different portions of lands called shields. The geographic region in Venezuela, known as the Guyanese Shield, existed from the start as a great plain at an elevation roughly as high as today's visible tepuis, about 6500 to 9800 feet. After the formation of the great plain, during a long period of time—approximately 400 to 200 million years ago—a series of climate-related phenomena caused important changes in the geography of the Guyanese Shield.

The transformation of the landscape was due to drastic variations of arid climate to humid and vice versa; of strong, constant and lingering precipitations; droughts, freezing, discharges with high and low temperatures; storms, hurricanes, and the tectonic movements of the earth. The erosion was caused by atmospheric agents removing the material deposited in the great plain during millions of years. In places where the rock was less resistant, the erosion was greater resulting in this great transformation, the Tepuis, and the fantastic scenery at the Falls.