Rainbow in Kaieteur gorge

Kaieteur National Park is a National Park located in the Potaro-Siparuni Region of Guyana. Kaieteur Falls is located here.

The Park’s boundaries and purpose are defined in the Kaieteur National Park Act, and was created to preserve the natural scenery (including Kaieteur Falls), and its fauna and flora. The Act is administered by the Kaieteur National Park Commission.

In 1999 the Park’s area was increased from 5 square miles (10 km2) to 242 square miles (630 km2) by a Presidential Order.

Kaieteur Falls, Guyana

Kaieteur Falls is a high-volume waterfall on the Potaro River in central Guyana, Potaro-Siparuni region. It is located in Kaieteur National Park. It is 226 meters (741 ft) 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 meters (822 ft).

While many falls have greater height, few have the combination of height and water volume. This has given Kaieteur Falls the misleading label of “largest single drop” waterfall in the world which is often misinterpreted as “tallest single drop.” However, it is likely one of the most powerful waterfalls in the world.

Kaieteur Falls is about five times higher than the more well known Niagara Falls, located on the border between Canada and the United States and about two times the height of the Victoria Falls located on the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe in Africa.

Its distinction lies in the unique combination of great height and large volume, averaging 663 cubic meters per second (23,400 cubic feet per second). Thus it is one of the most powerful waterfalls in the world, rivaling even the Jog Falls of India’s Karnataka state during the monsoon season.

Up river from the falls, the Potaro Plateau stretches out to the distant escarpment of the Pakaraima Mountains. The Potaro river empties in to the Essequibo River which is one the longest and widest rivers in South America.

Discovery by Europeans

Kaietur Falls in the rainy season

On 24 April 1870, Charles Barrington Brown, one of two British geologists appointed government surveyors to the colony of British Guiana (Guyana), became the first European to see Kaieteur Falls. The other surveyor was James Sawkins. Brown and James Sawkins arrived in Georgetown in 1867 and did some of their mapping and preparation of geological reports together, some in separate expeditions, but Sawkins had taken a break from his work when Brown came upon Kaieteur.

At the time of discovery Brown did not have time to investigate Kaieteur Falls closer and he returned here one year later when measurements of waterfall were made.

Brown’s book Canoe and Camp life in British Guiana was published in 1876. Two years later, in 1878, he published Fifteen Thousand Miles on the Amazon and its tributaries.

According to a Patamona Indian legend, Kaieteur Falls was named for Kai, a chief, or Toshao who acted to save his people by paddling over the falls in an act of self-sacrifice to Makonaima, the great spirit.

Another legend though was told to Brown by Amerindians in the night of discovery of falls: Kaieteur has been named after an unpleasant old man who was placed in a boat and shoved in the fall by his relatives. Thus the fall was named “Kaieteur” what means — “old-man-fall”.

Tourism

Kaieteur Falls is a major tourist attraction in Guyana. The falls is located in Kaieteur National Park and is in the centre of Guyana’s rainforest. There are frequent flights between the falls’ airstrip and Ogle Airport and Cheddi Jagan International Airport in Georgetown.

Services

Kaieteur International Airport is located on the left bank of the Potaro river and is 6 kilometers from Kaieteur falls. The Kaieteur International Airport serves the Potaro-Siparuni regions.

Flag of Guyana

The flag of Guyana, known as The Golden Arrowhead, has been the national flag of Guyana since May 1966 when the country became independent from the United Kingdom.

It was designed by Whitney Smith, an American vexillologist (though originally without the black and white fimbriations, which were later additions suggested by the College of Arms in the United Kingdom).

The proportions of the national flag are 3:5. The colours are symbolic, with green for agriculture and forests, white for rivers and water, gold for mineral wealth, black for endurance, and red for zeal and dynamism.

Other Flags

The civil air ensign is a copy of the British Civil Air Ensign, with the Guyanese flag in the canton.

Naval ensign of Guyana

The naval ensign of Guyana is a stretched version of the national flag, with proportions of 1:2.

Civil Air Ensign of Guyana

Historical Flags

As part of the British Empire, Guyana’s flag was a British Blue Ensign with the colonial badge in the fly. An unofficial red version was used at sea.

The first flag was introduced in 1875 and was changed slightly in 1906 and 1955. Like all British Ensigns, the colonial flags of Guyana were all ratio 1:2.

Flag of British Guiana, 1875-1906

Flag of British Guiana, 1919-1954

Flag of British Guiana, 1954—1966