Nature’s amazing wonders continue to render us speechless every single time we find ourselves in front of them proving once again that art imitates nature and that’s for a good and obvious reason. It appears nature has countless treasures in store for humanity just waiting for us to appreciate them to their full value. Among these true and rare gifts are waterfalls, each of them unique and beautiful in their own way. If you’ve ever found yourself in front of one, you can but stand in awe to the mesmerizing display of nature’s craftsmen. It’s difficult making a choice when it comes to narrow it down to just 10 when there are so many beautiful ones out there, however below are some of the best ones you shouldn’t miss.

1.Sutherland Falls, Fiordland, New Zealand

Apart from being one of the tallest waterfalls in New Zealand, Sutherland Falls with its 580m plunge also runs for one one of the tallest in the world. The water actually falls in 3 cascades, the upper being 229 m tall, middle 248 m and lower one measuring 103 m tall. The waterfall was discovered in 1880 by Donald Sutherland, from where the waterfall got its name as well, and John Mackay. The water source is Lake Quill, a lake drawing its waters from the glaciers around it. Due to the force of the falling water, it creates constant winds and fog and in dry weather it is possible to go behind the last cascade.

2.Angel Falls, Venezuela

This is the tallest and one of the most amazing waterfalls in the world with a total height of 979 meters and the highest single drop in the world of 807 meters. It is located in the Canaima National Park a UNESCO World Heritage site and is one of Venezuala’s top tourist attractions. The height of the fall is so great that water doesn’t even have the time to hit the ground, it mostly evaporates or gets carried away as a fine mist by the strong winds here. Even tough facts point to the direction that the waterfall was first discovered by spanish explorers, it basically remained unknown to the world until a US aviator named Jimmie Angel flew over it and also passed on his name.

3.Iguazu Falls, Argentina

Located on the border of Brazil and Argentina one of the most huge and most spectacular waterfalls in the world, this one impresses little with its 87 meters height but will definitely amaze you with its 2700 meters width made up of 275 cascades displayed in a horseshoe shape. It is taller than Niagara falls and twice as wide. During rainy season the water flow is of 12.750 m2 per second. There is even a local legend about it stating that a god planned to marry a beautiful girl named Naipi, who in her try to escape fled with her mortal lover in a canoe. Enraged with this and to get hi revenage the god sliced the river creating the waterfalls and condemning the lovers to an eternal fall.

4. Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe

One of the most impressive sights in the world Victoria Falls is located on the Zambezi River between Zambia and Zimbabwe in southern Africa. With a width of 1737 meters and a height of 107 meters it is considered to be the largest sheet of falling water in the world. The first european to view the falls is believed to have been David Livingstone, the famous scottish explorer who in honor of his queen named the falls “Victoria”. In local dialect the fall is called “Mosi-oa-Tunya which translates to “smoke that thunders”. The spray from the falls raises as far as 400 meters and can be spotted from up to 50 km.

5. Kaieteur Falls, Guyana

If there’s one waterfall which has all the features required in order to be counted in our top then Kaieteur Falls makes it by far. With its enormous hight of 251 m, large width of 113 m, impressive water volume 663 m3 per second, massive free fall of 226 m and beautiful surroundings, it is about 5 times higher than Niagara Falls and 2 times higher than Victoria Falls. What contributes to the beauty of this waterfall is also the feeling of being secluded since unlike other waterfalls largely visited by heaps of tourists, this one is more desolate as it stands in the middle of wilderness with no roads or luxury hotels.

6.Niagara Falls, Canada/USA

This is probably the best known and most popular waterfall in the world. It is 51 m high and 1203 m wide. The falls is actually formed of two major sections separated by an island: the Horseshoe Falls on the Canadian side and the American Falls on the American side. 90% of the entire water flow actually goes over the Horseshoe Falls. The fall is thought to have appeared some 10.000 years ago and has been brought to european attention from as early as 1677. Unlike other waterfalls, this one has been put to economy’s use, with power stations generating up to 4.4 gigawatts of power. The annual rate of visitors by 2009 was expected to be around 28 million tourists a year which makes it the most visited waterfall in the world.

7.Gullfoss, Iceland

It is located on the southwest coast of Iceland and is one of the most unconventional looking waterfalls in the country. Beautiful, wide with two tiers placed at 90 degrees and with a total height of 32 meters due to the fact that the crevice is obscured, as one approaches, it offers a unique view to the eye as it appears that the mighty rivers just disappears into the earth.

8. Yosemite Falls, California USA

Measuring 739 m Yosemite Falls is ranked as the highest waterfall in NorthAmerica and the sixth highest in the world. The spectacular view of the falls is breathless but credit goes to the scenery as well, granite cliffs and giant sequoia trees, thus making it one of the most striking sights in America as well as one of the most visited waterfalls in the world. It consists of 3 sections, the Upper Fall which plunges 440 m ,the Middle Cascades which tumbles around 206 m and the Lower Falls which drops 98m. All three sections or just some of them can be seen from different locations through the upper reaches of the Yosemite Valley. Since the falls runs on water from melting snow, in years of little snow, the falls may actually cease flowing altogether in late summer or fall.

9. Nohkalikai Falls, India

With its height of 335 meters Nohkalikai is one of the tallest waterfalls in India. The stream feeding these falls is relatively short, just about 2 km long, however the plateau from which it falls is very special since this is one of the wettest places on Earth. Just below the falls there has formed a plunge pool with unusual green colored water. The waterfall also has a legend behind it, but to keep everything in a happy note I won’t mention it here since it’s rather tragic, but if you’re curious you can look it up.

10. Plitvice Falls, Croatia

Not among the world’s most high or wide waterfalls, if one was trying to look for the correct word to describe these falls, that word would be simply stunning. The national park is world famous for its lakes arranged in cascades. There are 16 lakes which can be seen from the surface. These are formed by several small rivers and subterranean karst rivers. There are thousands of small falls all created by calcifying plant life that grows up. The scenery here renders you speechless offering you an incredible show made up of distinctive colors ranging from azure to green, grey or blue.

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