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How big is Angel Falls?

980 meter!

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Angel Falls

Angel Falls, in Venezuela, is the tallest known waterfall on land as of 2026. Its water drops a total of 979 meters (3,212 feet) from the edge of a flat-topped mountain. That total includes the tallest single drop of any waterfall, an unbroken plunge of 807 meters (2,648 feet).

Size

A waterfall's height is the vertical distance its water falls. Angel Falls was last surveyed during a National Geographic expedition in 1949. Guinness World Records gives its total drop as 979 meters and its longest single drop as 807 meters. UNESCO rounds its height to 1,000 meters.

There is some debate about whether the whole 979 meters should count as a single waterfall. If only the first 807-meter drop were counted, Tugela Falls in South Africa, which falls 948 meters (3,110 feet) in several drops, would be the tallest waterfall. A waterfall hidden beneath the ocean is taller than either. In the Denmark Strait, in the Atlantic Ocean, cold water plunges more than 3.5 kilometers as it flows from one sea into another.

Size comparisons

  • Angel Falls is 151 meters taller than the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building at 828 meters (2,717 feet). Its longest single drop alone is almost as tall as the tower.
  • Nearly three Eiffel Towers, each 330 meters (1,083 feet) tall, stacked on top of one another would reach the top of the falls.
  • About 580 people 1.7 meters (5 feet 7 inches) tall, each standing on the head of the one below, would match its height.
  • About nine American football fields, end zones included, stood on end would reach the top.
  • The falls are about 2.8 times as tall as Uluru, the great rock in central Australia, which rises 348 meters (1,142 feet) above the plain around it.

Where the water comes from

Angel Falls pours off the edge of Auyán-tepui, a mountain with a flat top and sheer cliff sides. Mountains of this kind are called tepuis, or table mountains. The falls are on a tributary of the Carrao River, which feeds the Caroní River in eastern Venezuela.

The falls lie in the tropical forest of Canaima National Park, in the state of Bolívar. The park covers 3 million hectares (30,000 square kilometers) of southeastern Venezuela, along the borders with Guyana and Brazil, and about 65% of it is covered by tepuis. UNESCO added the park to its World Heritage List in 1994.

How it got its names

The name Kerepakupai Merú comes from the local Indigenous Pemón culture and means "waterfall of the deepest place." The falls are also sometimes called Parakupá Vená, "the fall from the highest place." In Spanish they are Salto Ángel.

The name Angel Falls comes from Jimmie Angel, an American pilot. He recorded the falls in his logbook after flying over them in November 1933.

Sources

De schaal van het Universum > Angel Falls
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