digg

Join DiggAbout
See the original image at environmentalgraffiti.com

10 Highest Waterfalls on Earth [pics

environmentalgraffiti.com — If you ’re like me, as a kid, you probably enjoyed throwing heavy objects off super-high buildings, just to see how long it took and what they looked like when they smashed. As a responsible adult, I now get my pleasure in gazing at water falling from extremely high cliffs and splashing into the rocks. It’s quite spectacular. We wanted to find out .

Bury
show profanity settings
expand all
  • corr, on 06/16/2008, -3/+17These are great. Beautiful.
  • mentol, on 06/16/2008, -2/+9these are really great travel places, i tell ya
  • rtknox00, on 06/16/2008, -1/+10I can totally understand the desire to throw things of tall buildings - I once threw my toy firetruck on the first floor balcony and saw it make an amazing smash. i then really regretted it...sigh
  • Khanvalescent, on 06/17/2008, -2/+13I've been to #2 a few times. You can hike to a pool at the fall's base. Very neat, but very scary as every so often rocks fall into the pool.
    • ElAssoWipo, on 06/17/2008, -4/+6Seems kind of troublesome just to take a dump.
    • ravan46, on 06/18/2008, -0/+1Have you gone recently? I went to Waipio Valley on my Hawaii vacation in January, and we only found a spot that vaguely looked like a trail.

      http://coolshawn.com/hawaii08/day9.php
      • pooty2, on 06/18/2008, -0/+1That is a cool cop car.
      • Khanvalescent, on 06/20/2008, -0/+1There is a waterfall in the back of Waipio valley too. It is not as tall, and the trail is very indistinct and criss-crosses a stream the entire time.

        The river mentioned in the article is in Waimanu valley, however. To get there you hike across the beach in Waipio valley, and go up the very steep switchback trail. Then it is about nine miles north through a bunch of smaller gulches. Finally, you head to the far side of Waimanu valley and hike about three miles to the back of it.
  • cledford, on 06/17/2008, -3/+14That makes the waterfalls I have been to look like chumpfalls
    • dbizzell, on 06/17/2008, -1/+1more like waterfalls and can't get up, right?
      • Mootabolife, on 06/17/2008, -2/+1Don't go to the phonyfalls.

        Ok.. I'm lame and copying Weird Al.
        • dbizzell, on 06/17/2008, -1/+2Don't you worry. we're all lame buddy...we all are
  • gavinhudson, on 06/17/2008, -2/+11I've been to #1, Angel Falls. It's well worth the trip to appreciate the natural beauty and warm, hospitable indigenous people who live near there and run the tours.
  • yeblonski, on 06/17/2008, -1/+5Amazing!
  • aircool00, on 06/17/2008, -0/+13That first picture is sweet I would love to visit
  • skewl, on 06/17/2008, -0/+5who's going to climb those high peaks to throw a rock, not that it wouldn't be great?
  • kgrandia, on 06/17/2008, -1/+3Very, very nice.
  • kukon, on 06/17/2008, -0/+5I suppose the water is cold as ice
  • HuskyPuzzle, on 06/17/2008, -2/+7Doesn't the water have to "fall" to be considered a waterfall? Lots of those looked like steep streams...
    • Dav3ster, on 06/17/2008, -0/+1I've seen plenty of streams in my time. Most conjure the image of a gentle meandering piece of water which people could go for a swim/paddle in. Can't say I fancy the idea in any of those...
  • jeremyduffy, on 06/17/2008, -0/+9Who cares about the high falls? Wherever that first picture was taken is the place I want to go see.
    • Ryanx0r, on 06/17/2008, -0/+2I was thinking the exact same thing. Amazing :) Would love to take a dip in that 'pool' of water.
  • dbizzell, on 06/17/2008, -0/+18eff all those, I wanna know where that waterfall is in first picture!
    So I can live there.
    • roger6106, on 06/17/2008, -0/+3Plitvicka Jezera National Park, according to the Flickr page.
  • zer0nine, on 06/17/2008, -1/+1Truly beautiful.
  • Memnochxx, on 06/17/2008, -1/+8OGC
  • gentlemanjack, on 06/17/2008, -0/+9As if I didn't need another reason to move to Norway.
    • Thogster, on 06/17/2008, -1/+4I'm confused. Sure you didn't mean to say "As if I needed another reason to move to Norway"? Otherwise, I'm not quite sure what you're trying to say.

      Anyways, I'm Norwegian, and i had no clue we had five of the highest waterfalls on Earth. :/
    • Micherik, on 06/17/2008, -0/+5As if I needed any more reasons to stay =)
      I've actually been to all of the Norwegian waterfalls listed :)
  • pinoylife, on 06/17/2008, -0/+1Images like these makes me appreciate the Earth so much more.
  • socoolisme, on 06/17/2008, -0/+13The first picture is of the waterfalls at Plitvicka Jezera National Park.
    • mentol, on 06/17/2008, -0/+3Yup ... those are not high, but just beautiful :)
    • pigducksheep, on 06/17/2008, -0/+4That pic was the best one.
  • klinquist, on 06/17/2008, -5/+5Buried as inaccurate. Missing Yosemite Falls (2400+ft) among others.
    • acparks1, on 06/17/2008, -2/+12These waterfalls are measured by their longest drop, not their total height. Yosemite may be 2400ft tall but its longest drop is only 1400 ft, ranking it 18th in the world.
  • Kenzan, on 06/17/2008, -0/+2All of these are places I would not mind living near.
  • pigducksheep, on 06/17/2008, -0/+3Im thirsty now.
  • cllewis, on 06/17/2008, -5/+2I was clicking on this hoping to be able to say "slowly I turned..."
    but I can't. because there is no mention of Niagara Falls in the article. NIAGARA FALLS! Slowwwwly I turned...step by step, inch by inch...and then I punch him in the nose, kicked him in the shin, bopped him on the head, tore his shirt and threw him on the ground.
    • acparks1, on 06/17/2008, -0/+5Niagara is tiny compared to these mammoth drops.
      167 ft... pfft *****'s weak!
      • arkboysooner, on 06/17/2008, -1/+3The drops are large, but Niagra spews more water.
        • ldkronos, on 06/17/2008, -0/+2Which is a very useful statistic in an article about the 10 highest waterfalls
    • CalcProgrammer1, on 06/17/2008, -0/+2Just visited Niagara Falls last week on our school Band Tour. That place is awesome! The drop isn't that big (nowhere near as big as some waterfalls) but the amount of water is huge. The Canadian side has so much water that you can't even see when you're down in the middle of it (took a boat ride around the bottom of the falls, felt like it was raining when you get close to it).
  • Butterrocks1, on 06/17/2008, -0/+2this brings back memories from the video game, The Lion King on the original Sega, damn i hated that waterfall level..
  • okie4life, on 06/17/2008, -0/+1Ok Dan! You ready! 1! 2! 3! Jump! HaHa I knew you wouldn't do it!
  • Managore, on 06/17/2008, -0/+3For anyone who's interested, the photographer of the first picture is Jack Brauer. Details of the photo and a larger version of it can be found here:

    http://www.widerange.org/photo.php?id=259
  • 3man, on 06/17/2008, -0/+1Check out some the waterfalls in Northern BC! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2AV7fKqYRY
  • morningchai, on 06/17/2008, -0/+5Mother Nature is certainly one gorgeous dame.
  • FeloniusMonkey, on 06/17/2008, -0/+3And if you have Indiana Jones in the raft with you, you could go over any of these without a scratch... three times!
  • Dajhan, on 06/17/2008, -0/+1These are what we really called.., Water Falls. All the waterfalls that I've seen seems like no waterfalls at all.
  • CraigC85, on 06/17/2008, -0/+2Alluvial Fans FTW
  • SidiousX3, on 06/17/2008, -0/+3lol wtf is up with norway and waterfalls? Nice pictures
  • sl33stak, on 06/17/2008, -1/+3I'll be flying around #5 on August 6th Air Maui
  • magnus3994, on 06/17/2008, -0/+3Norway is dominating!
  • munawarali2, on 06/17/2008, -1/+3Where's Niagra Falls? It beats all these chump falls, because it has the title "Honeymoon Capital of the World".
    Well, that was true in the 70's anyway.
    • Dav3ster, on 06/17/2008, -0/+2The height of the highest fall at Niagara is 176ft. So while it is an amazing site in terms of volume of water, it wouldn't quite fit into the "10 Highest" Waterfalls on Earth"

      As I am sure people have said lots of times thought, it's not all about length, a lot of it is to do with width...
  • i4detail, on 06/17/2008, -0/+2Is it just me, or is "the highest waterfall in Europe" (Norway's Ølmäafossen, at 2,362 feet (720m) high), shorter than the Norway's tallest waterfall (Mongefossen, "the tallest waterfall in the country with a total drop estimated to be at 2,535 feet (773m).")

    Also, 3man, while Kinuseo is a gorgeous falls, it is not really deserving to be on the list of "world's tallest". And despite it's position on the list of BC's top waterfalls, it doesn't really belong there, either. The trouble with calling a waterfall "the highest" is that different people have different measurements of what is and what is not a waterfall, and what is, and what is not, just a very steep rapid. Any way you measure it, kinuseo (at 60-some metres) is 550 metres shy of making this list....
  • RockStarMVP, on 06/17/2008, -1/+1Wow beautiful
  • mojoface, on 06/17/2008, -1/+1oh no..........
    It's Y!answers all over again....
    bury me plz
  • element21, on 06/18/2008, -0/+1Inaccurate. missing Tugela Falls - 948m http://www.worldwaterfalldatabase.com/waterfall.ph ...
    • liamg26, on 06/18/2008, -0/+0exactly right!

      Was going to say Tugela Falls was 2nd. Have been on a couple hikes round there and its amazing
  • goddessophia, on 06/18/2008, -1/+1And I should have put money on Angel Falls coming in at number one!
  • sauronsmatrix, on 06/18/2008, -1/+1pretty cool, but pics are kinda low-res
    \anyone got better ones?
  • oddi, on 06/18/2008, -0/+0Norway ftw!
  • davidhallstrom, on 06/22/2008, -0/+1Great shots. I love waterfalls.
  • kickingback77, on 06/23/2008, -0/+1"Lang Falls in Horadland, western Norway is gorgeous. I'm hoping to travel out their with my family in 2010. It's breathtaking!! Looking at these waterfalls makes me think about the impact of people craving bottled water on our resources, check this one out:

    http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/environment/20 ...

    Luckily you can still have hope, some companies turn recycled drink containers into furniture like polywood.

    http://www.diyhomecenter.com/polywood"
  •  

    Login or register to add a comment

    Create a new account or login to join in the conversation on Digg. You'll also be able to Digg stories to help promote things you like.


© Digg Inc. 2008 — Content posted by Digg users is dedicated to the public domain.
DIGG, DIGG IT, DUGG, DIGG THIS, Digg graphics, logos, designs, page headers, button icons, scripts, and other service names are the trademarks of Digg Inc.