The Pará Falls (Salto Pará) are large waterfalls on the
Caura River in
Bolívar,
Venezuela
Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...
.
The falls are located upstream from the confluence of the Caura and
Orinoco
The Orinoco () is one of the longest rivers in South America at . Its drainage basin, sometimes known as the Orinoquia, covers , with 76.3 percent of it in Venezuela and the remainder in Colombia. It is the fourth largest river in the wor ...
, and are considered the boundary between the upper and lower sections of the river. Due to the difficulty of portaging past the falls, they are a traditional boundary for the
Ye'kuana
The Ye'kuana, also called Ye'kwana, Ye'Kuana, Yekuana, Yequana, Yecuana, Dekuana, Maquiritare, Makiritare, So'to or Maiongong, are a Cariban-speaking tropical rain-forest tribe who live in the Caura River and Orinoco River regions of Venezuela ...
and
Kalina
Kalina may refer to:
People
* Kalina people, or Caribs, an indigenous people of the northern coastal areas of South America
* Kalina language, or Carib, the language of the Kalina people
* Kalina (given name)
* Kalina (surname)
* Noah Kalina, Ame ...
tribes.
French naturalist Eugène André was the first European to describe the falls, on his 1900 exploration of the Caura River. In an article for ''
The Geographical Journal
''The Geographical Journal'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal of the Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers). It publishes papers covering research on all aspects of geography. It also publishes shorter C ...
'' he wrote:
In 1976 the state owned power company CADAFE studied the Pará falls as a potential site for a hydroelectric plant. These plans were later dropped due to unsuitable geology.
As there are no roads in the area, the falls are most easily reached by boat.
See also
*
List of waterfalls by flow rate
This list of waterfalls by flow rate includes all waterfalls which are known to have an Volumetric flow rate, average flow rate or Discharge (hydrology), discharge of at least . The waterfalls in this list are those for which there is verifiable i ...
References
{{reflist
External links
Aerial view of Pará Falls, Gobierno Bolivariano de Venezuela, 2017
Landforms of Bolívar (state)
Tourist attractions in Bolívar (state)
Waterfalls of Venezuela