Kaieteur Falls

Kaieteur
Kaieteur, Guyana, in rainy season 2004
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 the largest single-drop waterfall^[1] in the world. It is located on the Potaro River in Kaieteur National Park, central Essequibo Territory, Guyana. It is 226 metres (741 ft) high when measured from its plunge over a sandstone and conglomerate cliff to the first break. It then flows over a series of steep cascades that, when included in the measurements, bring the total height to 251 metres (822 ft). While many falls have greater height, few have the combination of height and water volume, and Kaieteur is among the most powerful waterfalls in the world with an average flow rate of 663 cubic metres per second (23,400 cubic feet per second).^[2] Kaieteur Falls is about four and a half times the height of Niagara Falls, on the border between Canada and the United States, and about twice the height of Victoria Falls, on the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe in Africa.

Upriver from the falls, the Potaro Plateau stretches out to the distant escarpment of the Pakaraima Mountains. The Potaro River empties into the Essequibo River which is the 34th longest river in South America and the longest river in Guyana.