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Third Tallest Waterfall in the World Discovered in Peru

(LIP-ir) -- What was believed to be the third tallest waterfall in the world has been replaced by a new discovery. According to a study done by Peru's National Geographic Institute (ING), the third tallest waterfall in the world is in Peru's Amazon in the district of Cuispes.

Studies done by Peru's ING revealed that Yumbilla waterfall is 895.4 meters (2,937 feet) high and higher than Gocta waterfall, which is 771 meters (2,529 feet) high and located in Chachapoyas, said Peru's Minister of Foreign Trade and Tourism, Mercedes Aráoz.

Yumbilla waterfall is the third tallest waterfall in the world and the highest in Peru's Amazon if we consider that Gocta is 771 meters high, said a press release. The waterfall has four large drops.

Gocta waterfall, in the northern area of Chachapoyas, was discovered on March 9, 2006 by Stefan Ziemendorff, a German citizen working on a project with the Potable Amazon Water Company (Emusap).

According to Peru's RPP news, before the discovery of Yumbilla, the only waterfalls known to be higher than Gocta were El Salto del Ángel in Venezuela and Tugela Falls in South Africa.

A 2-day tour is being organized by Peru's Ministry of Tourism so that tourists can view Yumbilla, Gocta and Chinata waterfalls.

The World Waterfall Database reports that Yumbilla is actually the world's fifth tallest waterfall and that Tres Hermanas in Ayacucho is the world's third.

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# Martin says :
14 December, 2007 [ 08:49 ]

Yumbolla is more accurately a cascade made up of four waterfalls.          

# Tom says :
14 December, 2007 [ 08:59 ]

I don't agree, I think it's more accurately a cataract.

# Martin says :
14 December, 2007 [ 09:31 ]

 Tom, I believe that cataract = waterfall or steep rapids in a river.
Therefore, Yumbolla is a cascade made up of four cataracts [cataratas] or waterfalls.

# Michael says :
15 December, 2007 [ 12:17 ]

Why is it believed to be the third highest if the references in the article place it fifth (The World Waterfall Database)?

http://www.world-waterfalls.com/

# DJTL says :
15 December, 2007 [ 12:25 ]

I'm sure this German did not discover the waterfall by himself. Can any credit be given to the indigenous peoples of Peru? This reminds me of how Colombus "discovered"the New World. Who writes these articles?

# JWP says :
15 December, 2007 [ 20:38 ]

      I have seen Yumbilla.  Martin is correct.  It is a series of four waterfalls, or cataracts.  A catarct is just what you might call a thin waterfall, not huse volume falls like Niagra or Iguazu.  At Yumbilla they are counting the drop off of the four not so big falls together with the steep river.  I think a waterfall must be a sheer drop, not a steep hill.  I don't believe that the intenational community will ever except Yumbilla as the third highest waterfall.

      Furthermore, Gocta was only measued buy Stefan Ziemandorff.  Plenty of people were already aware of its existence.  The area has been inhabited since before the Spanish came.  There is a town a few km. away from the which the Gocta waterfall can be seen in plain sight.  It can also be seen from archaelogical sights across the Utcubamba river valley.

      "Who writes these articles?"--that's agood question.  I'd guess someone relatively incompetent, as is too often the case in Peru.

# Albert says :
15 December, 2007 [ 22:22 ]

Excuse my ignorance but I don't get what the heck you guys are talking about, I looked up the word cascade and this is what I got:

1.	a waterfall descending over a steep, rocky surface.

2.	a series of shallow or steplike waterfalls, either natural or artificial.

Then I looked up waterfall:

1.a steep fall or flow of water in a watercourse from a height, as over a precipice; cascade.

# JWP says :
16 December, 2007 [ 20:29 ]

    It seems there will always be semantical problems.  Speaking here about these Pewruvian waterfalls I believe the word ctaract is being incorrectly used as a sinonym of the Spanish word "catarata".  That works when refering to eye problems, but not when talking about waterfalls.  On the sit www.world-waterfalls.com , there is an excellent article on this subject as they spell out their definitions.
     The world-waterfalls site lists Tres Hermanas, also in Peru, as the third highest waterfall.  They do explain very well why this would be, according to their definitions.  I would disagree because Tres hermanas is a cascade of three 200m. waterfalls, yet categorized as a single waterfall of 914m..  Each tier is separated by a large distance consisting of a steep cascading drop.  I don't believe that one can justify defining this as a single 914m waterfall. 
     Yumbilla, which I have seen, is a cascade with at least four tiers separated by large sections of cascading river.  None of the tiers are very high relative to many other world class waterfalls.  It is a evry steep, cascading river, very beautiful, with several waterfalls; but to classify it as a single waterfall of nearly 900m is absurd to me.  I don't believe the international community will ultimately consider this recently "discovered" cascade as a single waterfall.
      Gocta on the other hand is a two tiered waterfall consisting of the upper tier, around 220m. high, and the spectacular lower tier of about 550m..  There is a short stretch of river dividing them; yet their combined drops make up almost the entire height of the drop from top to bottom.  Te drop off in between the two tiers is negligable, as can be seen in a photo on the world-waterfalls site.  All three of these Peruvian waterfalls are imprssive, gorgeous works of nature.  Personally I would consider Gocta a single waterfall of 771m high.  I do accept that it could be considered as two waterfalls.  Yumbilla and Tres Hermanas (the latter of which I've only seen photos) for me are cascades consisting of several separate falls.
      It all come down to semantics and agreeing on definitions.  In the end, as long as we know what we mean, it doesn't matter.  The important thing is that nature made these wonderful spectacles for us, and we should enjoy them!

# Alex says :
22 October, 2008 [ 12:29 ]

Im sorry, but does this site actually say it supports these claims?

No.

It specifically says that these clearly false pieces of information are from press conferences and such like.

I personnally beleive that a cascade is a variation of the word waterfall, therefore meaning waterfall. If you people have nothing better to do than to have a debate over whether or not a word means waterfall I suggest you all get out more.

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