Gocta Waterfall

The Gocta Waterfall (in Spanish: la catarata Gocta), a waterfall with 2 drops, has been known for centuries to the local residents in Peru's province of Chachapoyas in Amazonas, which is approximately 700 kilometers to the north-east of Lima. Its existence was made public following an expedition in 2002 by the German Stefan Ziemendorff with a group of Peruvian explorers. At the time of his discovery he successfully persuaded the Peruvian government to map the falls and to measure their height. On March 11 2006, following his third expedition to the falls, he held a press conference, the contents of which were published by several of the world's wire services. He stated that the total height was accurately measured at 771 meters (2,532 feet), based on information from the National Geographic Society, was the third tallest free-leaping waterfall in world after Angel Falls in Venezuela and Tugela Falls in South Africa. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1944x2592, 1860 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Gocta Cataracts Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner used to... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1944x2592, 1860 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Gocta Cataracts Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner used to... Hopetoun Falls near Otway National Park, Victoria, Australia A waterfall is usually a geological formation resulting from water, often in the form of a stream, flowing over an erosion-resistant rock formation that forms a sudden break in elevation. ... Chachapoyas is a province of the Amazonas Region, Peru. ... Amazonas is a region in northern Peru. ... A kilometer (Commonwealth spelling: kilometre), symbol: km is a unit of length in the metric system equal to 1,000 metres (from the Greek words χίλια (khilia) = thousand and μέτρο (metro) = count/measure). ... Lima is the capital and largest city in Peru, as well as the capital of Lima Province. ... The metre, or meter (symbol: m) is the SI base unit of length. ... A foot (plural: feet) is any of several old units of distance or length, measuring around a quarter to a third of a meter. ... Angel Falls or Salto Ángel is the worlds highest free-falling waterfall at 979 m (3,212 ft) with an uninterrupted drop of 807 m (2,648 ft). ... Tugela Falls are the worlds second highest waterfall. ...

The comments by Stefan Ziemendorff as to the waterfalls' ranking have been widely disputed since his press conference. Various encyclopedias, reference books, and webpages accessible through Google, list Gocta Cataracts as the world's fifth tallest, after adding the seasonal and not freeleaping Ramnefjellsfossen (Norway) and Mongefossen (Norway). Furthermore, The World Waterfall Database ranges Gocta as the 14th tallest [1]. For definitions of Waterfalls see also discussion. Ramnefjellsfossen (also known as Utigardfossen) is the third highest free-leaping waterfalls in the world, at a total fall of 808 m (2,685 feet), tallest leap at 600 m (1,968 feet). ... Mongefossen (Monge falls) is the fourth-highest waterfall in the world. ...

The waterfall, which can be seen from kilometers away in the heart of the Chachapoyas region, has been christened Gocta Falls, after the name of the nearest settlement.

The daily El Comercio, whose reporter visited the place, said that the impressive waterfall had remained unknown to outsiders until now, because local people feared the curse of a beautiful blond mermaid who lived in its waters if they revealed its whereabouts. Diario El Comercio is the largest daily newspaper of Peru, with a circulation of over 120,000. ...

On March 13, 2006 the Peruvian government announced to the press, published on that date by La República, that the area surrounding the falls would be developed as a tourist attraction, with a target date for sometime in mid-2007. La República is a center-left newspaper published in Lima, Peru. ...

External links

• Washington Post travel story
• Gocta From Denver Post
• How to visit Gocta
• Gocta info, tours and photos
• Gocta, Catarata at the World Waterfall Database