Fun Fact Friday: Waterfall Edition

I hope you’ve enjoyed the blog series the last two months talking about my favorite ancient civilization the Etruscans. We’re changing things up this week and are talking fun facts about waterfalls this time!

I just have to take a quick second to mention… today is the day! The opening reception of my first solo art exhibit – Waterfalls of the Finger Lakes! Nine waterfalls from my recent project of 50 NY waterfalls are featured. I would love to see you there! Today, Friday September 28th 5-8pm at the Corning branch of First Heritage Federal Credit Union (23 W Market Street).

Getting back to today’s topic… When you think of waterfalls in the world you may think of the most famous – Niagara Falls here in New York or Victoria Falls in Southern Africa, but did you know that Iguazu Falls is the widest waterfall in the world?

Iguazu Falls is on the border between Brazil and Argentina in South America. The name Iguazu means ‘big waters’ in the Guarani language of ancient Brazilian tribes. The waterfall is 2.7 km wide (1.7 miles!) and is a combination of 275 separate waterfalls. Each waterfall is between 200 and 270 feet tall. For reference Niagara falls is only 176 feet high. Taughannock Falls (which I have recently painted) in Trumansburg, NY is 215 feet high. So each of the waterfalls within Iguazu Falls would all be around the height of Taughannock Falls or taller. (As a side note – fall is a beautiful time to visit Taughannock Falls!)

Here’s a video clip by Planet Earth BBC that shows some of the beauty of Iguazu Falls. How incredible would it be to see this in person??

Do you have an art or adventure topic that you’d like to know more about? Send me a message and I might feature it on an upcoming Fun Fact Friday post!