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Kadishi Waterfall

Kadishi Waterfall
Kadishi Waterfall. / Ptosio, Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0

WorldBlue  In short

The unusual Kadishi Waterfall is one of the tallest waterfalls over the tufa formations in the world.

4.3 out of 10 stars 42.5%

GPS coordinates
24.5666 S 30.7947 E
Location, address
Africa, South Africa, Mpumalanga province, Enhlazeni, Thaba Chweu Local Municipality, mouth of Kadishi River in Blyde River Canyon
Alternate names
Kadisi Waterfall, Kadishi Tufa Waterfall, Weeping falls, Weeping Face of Nature
Height
Around 200 m
Drops
Several
Stream
Kadishi

Map of the site

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WorldYellow In detail

Description of falls

Kadishi Waterfall
Kadishi Waterfall. / Francois Karm, Flickr / CC BY 2.0

Kadishi Waterfall is one of many tourist attractions in the gorgeous Blyde River Canyon (Motlatse Canyon) that is up to 750 m deep. This forested, lively canyon is meandering through quartz arenite cliffs of the Black Reef Quartzite Formation and Wolkberg Group – some 2.5 – 2.6 billion years old rocks.

Kadishi River before its fall into Blyde is flowing through dolomite layers. Over many thousands of years, the water of Kadishi dissolved the lime. When the water with lime reaches the rim of the canyon and falls through the air, the lime is deposited again and over thousands of years, it has formed a weird tufa cliff.

This unusual formation is a good example of pareidolia – the cliff face with the falling water from some points of view resembles a giant weeping skull.

Often it is mentioned that Kadishi Waterfall is the second-tallest tufa waterfall in the world – unfortunately without mentioning which one is the tallest one. An impressive contender for this title could be the gorgeous Anisakan Falls (Dat Taw Gyaik Falls) in Burma which are some 320 m tall.

References

  1. Richard Viljoen, Morris Viljoen, Carl Anhaeusseer. Africa’s Top Geological Sites. 2016. ISBN-10: 177584448X

WorldYellow Linked articles

Blyde River Canyon, South Africa
Blyde River Canyon / , Flickr / CC BY 2.0

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Virginia Falls / Paul Gierszewski, Wikimedia Commons / public domain

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Semuc Champey. / Esmée Winnubst, Flickr / CC BY 2.0

Spring tufa, travertine, and other formations

This category includes very diverse landmarks that have one thing in common: all of them are created by springs that are depositing chemical sediments – silica, carbonates, salt, or other chemical compounds.

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