Page 6 - Off The Tourist Trail - 1000 Unexpected Travel Alternatives (Part 2 of 2)

174 6 MORE WATERFALLS TO RIVAL NIAGARA

NATURAL WONDERS

Glorious Angel Falls cutting through the forested mountainside,
Canaima National Park, Venezuela
Angel Falls Visitors watching the torrential Dettifoss Falls as it crashes over the
canyon side, Jökulsárgljúfur National Park, Iceland
The four cascades that make up Jog Falls, Karnataka State, India
Jog Falls
NEED TO KNOW Dettifoss Falls
LOCATION Angel Falls is $BSJCCFBO 4 FB
450 miles (725 km) southeast NEED TO KNOW
of the Venezuelan capital, $BSBDBT NEED TO KNOW
Caracas, in Canaima LOCATION Dettifoss Falls (SFFOMBOE
4BO 7&/&;6&-" 4FB
National Park $SJTUØCBM lies in Jökulsárgljúfur National
$JVEBE LOCATION Jog Falls is located in
MAXIMUM HEIGHT #PMÓWBS Karnataka State, southern India, Park in northeast Iceland, near )VTBWJL
to Mývatn Lake
3,212 ft (979 m) "/(&- about 205 miles (330 km) 1",*45"/ %FMIJ /&1"- "LVSFZSJ
'"--4
$0-0.#*" northwest of Bangalore MAXIMUM HEIGHT %&55*'044
DAYTIME */%*" 144 ft (44 m) '"--4
TEMPERATURES MAXIMUM HEIGHT ,PMLBUB *$&- "/%
Jan: 81°F (27°C); Apr: 84°F #3";*- 830 ft (253 m) .VNCBJ DAYTIME
(29°C); Jul: 81°F (27°C); Oct: 83°F (28°C) DAYTIME #BZ PG TEMPERATURES 3FZLKBWÓL
"SBCJBO #FOHBM Jan: 28°F (-2°C); Apr: 32°F
TEMPERATURES 4FB +0( '"--4
Jan: 79°F (26°C); Apr: 84°F #BOHBMPSF (0°C); Jul: 46°F (8°C); /PSUI "UMBOUJD 0DFBO
(29°C); Jul: 81°F (27°C); Oct: 37°F (3°C)
Tumbling in a single, delicate cascade that is almost Oct: 83°F (28°C)
43* -"/,"
half-a-mile (1 km) from top to bottom, Angel Falls
is far and away the world’s tallest waterfall, and a Situated in a remote area of northeast Iceland,
staggering 15 times the height of Niagara. It is so The grandest waterfall in Asia is hidden away in a almost 200 miles (320 km) from Reykjavík,
high, in fact, that much of the water turns to mist remote forest setting among the craggy hills of Dettifoss Falls is nature at its wildest and most
before reaching the bottom. It’s not just the the Western Ghats. Here, the Sharavati River elemental. A great sheet of foaming water
waterfall’s size that is impressive, but the setting, tumbles over an impressively high and wide plummets dramatically into an enormous canyon,
too. The water plunges over the edge of a precipice in four cascades – the Raja (king), Rani surrounded by a volcanic landscape of bleak
majestic, sheer-sided table mountain, known as (queen), rocket, and roarer. Although a large basalt plains, where eruptions continued until as
Auyan-tepui (meaning “Devil’s Mountain”), which hydroelectric power station upriver has reduced recently as 1984. This majestic waterfall sits on
rises up out of the lush Venezuelan jungle. Here the volume of water, the falls remain a dramatic the Jökulsá á Fjöllum river, which is fed by water
you’ll find giant anteaters, porcupines, three-toed sight, especially during, and immediately after, from Iceland’s largest glacier, the Vatnajökull
sloths, jaguars, tapirs, and poison arrow frogs. the monsoon season. The unspoiled surrounding icefield, and boasts a staggering average flow of
landscape is memorable at any time of year. 7,060 cubic ft (200 cubic m) per second, making
it the most powerful river in Europe.
Practical Information
Getting There Visitors must fly from Caracas or Ciudad Bolívar to the village Practical Information
of Canaima, which is 30 miles (50 km) from the falls. There’s no road Getting There The easiest route to the falls is to fly to Mumbai and catch Practical Information
access from here to the falls: you can get to them either on a canoe trip the Konkan Railway (or a bus) south along the coast towards Mangalore, Getting There Fly to Reykjavík, then take a bus or internal flight to Akureyri
(although this is only possible from June to November or December) or on alighting at Honavar, from where it’s a 2½-hour bus ride. The journey from (there are also occasional direct international flights to Akureyri). Travel by
a 40-minute flight for an aerial view. Bangalore is much more complicated. bus or car from here to Mývatn, and then on to Dettifoss by car.
When to Go Visit at the end of the rainy season in early December, when When to Go Visit the falls any time from October to January, just after the When to Go Visit between May and August. Temperatures can be bone-
skies are clear and the falls are at their most spectacular. monsoons when there’s plenty of water in the river. crunchingly cold during the rest of the year.
Website www.salto-angel.com Website www.tourism-of-india.com/karnataka-tour/jog-falls-tour.html Website www.icelandvisitor.com

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