Tall waterfalls in the Berg

BTW, has anyone ever hiked to the BASE of the falls? I don't mean the usual view where you peel of left from the river and climb a bit. I've done that, and it's magnificent, but I mean the BASE of the falls? Is it (reasonably) possible?

The wiki article on Tugela Falls seems to suggest that Angel Falls height of 979m or 972m (depending on the source) may be overstated. Apparently the height was estimated based on the altitude of the plateau above the falls vs the height of the plateau below the falls. The single drop is approx 800m and thus slightly higher than Norway's monster (the name of which I can never remember), but the height also includes a substantial stretch beyond the end of the falls and cascades.

Apparently if a conservative but similar basis is applied to Tugela falls - so the small 2m falls and large cascades within a similar distance are also included, Tugela falls is actually 1012m. Similarly if both are excluded (i.e. Angel Falls is measured based on how Tugela Falls is measured), Angel falls loses over 50m and Tugela takes the top spot.

Now of course 80% of what is on Wikipedia is wrong, and this could have been someone's idea of a joke, but it does sound plausible to me. And it would be pretty cool to say that our country has the highest waterfall in the world - after all, South America already has the widest, so let Africa have the highest

While it really doesn't matter - both are amazing and worth a visit, it would still be nice...

Ps. the designation is now "highest measured falls" - World Waterfall Database's quest to list every waterfall on earth over 4m has unearthed some real monsters such as a 900m or so waterfall in Hawaii. They have a long way to go, but they have already identified over 3000 waterfalls in California alone. If somehow they properly look into the great ranges I am convinced there are some real monsters known only to locals. Yosemite Falls (once rated 2nd highest on earth - 3 major drops 5km apart for all those who think the gaps on Tugela Falls shouldn't count) is not even in the top 20 any more.

mnt_tiska wrote: There is a big drop near the Red Wall in the Injisuthi area just north of the Triplets.
It was surveyed in the expectation that it was the longest single drop of any waterfall in Africa (Tugela has at least 3 stages).

You don't by any chance know what the height of this waterfall was surveyed to be?

A previous reply in this thread said 285m (though, it has to cascade and fall again after the wall, surely?)

Hi Guys. Can anyone help. I think there was a topic on the forum about the height of waterfalls in the Berg and also world wide. I found a world list of highest waterfalls and only the Tugela Falls is mentioned along with many smaller SA water falls. There are some high water falls in the Berg and below is the Didima (Witch) Falls. I could not photograph the entire falls as it falls away below a rock band. Maybe the Berg water falls are unknown, unmeasured and therefore are not in their rightful standing!

Didima/Witch Falls was once considered the 15^th highest in the world. When last I checked, World Waterfall Database had demoted it to about 100^th. They list it as approximately 600m. I could entirely believe it to be higher - but without an accurate survey, we won't know.