Really powerful waterfalls make the grandest impression
You can admire the stream of water falling from a great height endlessly. “Around the World” tells about the most impressive waterfalls in Europe, Asia, Australia and other parts of the world.
Asia – Pongour
Vietnam
Height – 40 m, width – about 100 m 01/size-imeet-znachenie-7-krasivejshih-vodopadov-vo-vseh-chastjah-sveta-93d192e.jpg” alt=”Size matters: 7 most beautiful waterfalls in all parts of the world” />
The seven-level waterfall, 35 kilometers from the city of Dalat, is considered one of the largest and most beautiful in Vietnam. But it happens like this, like many tropical waterfalls, only during the rainy season. Pongour is a landmark place not only for tourists, but also for local residents who gather here in January for traditional rituals and folk games.
North America —Niagara Falls
USA , New York
Height of free fall – 27-37 m (due to the heap of stones below), the width of the American – 287 m, Veil – 14 m< /p>
One of the three waterfalls, Horseshoe, is located in Canada. These two, American and Fata, are in the United States. The city of Niagara Falls, standing almost on a waterfall, feeds not only on its energy, but also on income from millions of tourists who come to enjoy the spectacle every year.
It's hard to imagine, but in 1969, American waterfalls were drained for several months – to carry out work to strengthen slopes and prevent erosion. And in January 2015, they froze for the first time since 1947.
See also
- What the “storm of the century” did: look at the frozen Niagara Falls
< h2>Australia – Barron
Queensland
Height – 107 m, width – up to 259 m
Most of the water from the Barron River is drawn by the power plant, so only during the rainy season the waterfall gains strength. At other times, it flows in rare streams, and during a period of drought it can completely dry up. People come to admire the waterfall on a retro tourist train from the city of Cairns.
Africa – Victoria
Zimbabwe
Height – up to 105 m, width – before 1951
Above the waterfall, the Zambezi River flows widely across a flat basalt slab in the valley, washing many islands (the closer to the waterfall, the more of them). Then the water falls vertically into a narrow gorge more than 100 meters deep, as if specially carved across the river, “boils” in this trap and breaks forward along a single zigzag channel.
In 2013, Zimbabwe's ruling party expressed its intention to assign the local name Mosi-oa-tunya (“thundering smoke”) to the waterfall. The “smoke” above the waterfall, by the way, is visible from 50 kilometers away.
Read also
- You can't look away: 10 outstanding waterfalls in the world
Russia  ;— Kinzelyuk Falls
Krasnoyarsk Territory
Height of free fall — 90 m, total height — 328 m
One of the highest waterfalls in Russia and Asia is located in a remote area, in the center of the Eastern Sayan. The stream comes from the glacial lake, then enters the Lower Lake, and from it into the Kinzelyuk River.
South America -Iguazu
Argentina -Brazil
< strong>Height – 82 m, width – up to 2896 m
The name of the waterfall in the Guarani language means “big water”. Once upon a time, US First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, seeing the Devil's Throat – the most impressive part of the complex – exclaimed: “Poor Niagara!” Iguazu is one of the favorite waterfalls among tourists and filmmakers (it was shown in the films “Moonraker”, “Happy Together”, etc.).
Europe — Rjukandefossen
Norway
Height —18m
Its name means “smoking waterfall”. This does not seem surprising in the warm season, when the Merkedela River rages, feeding on snow melting in the mountains. But for most of the year, the waterfall remains frozen and serves as an object of extreme entertainment for climbing tourists who vacation in the nearby ski resort of Hemsedal.
Photo: SIME PHOTO/FOTO S.A., GETTY IMAGES/FOTOBANK. COM (X2), CORBIS/FOTO S.A., SERGEY KARPUKHIN/GEOPHOTO, SHUTTERSTOCK, AGE/EASTNEWS
Material published in Vokrug Sveta No. 3, March 2014
Yulia Sinitsa