Kaieteur National Park Facts
Kaieteur National Park Facts
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| Interesting Kaieteur National Park Facts: |
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| Kaieteur National Park is named after Kaieteur Falls. Kaieteur Falls was named after a Toshao (chief) named Kai who sacrificed himself by going over the falls to save his people. The sacrifice was made to the Great Spirit Makonaima. |
| Europeans first visited Kaieteur Falls in 1870. Charles Barrington Brown was one of two geologists to become the first Europeans to see the falls. The other was James Sawkins. |
| The falls are the highest single drop waterfalls in the world. It is the most popular tourist attraction in Guyana. The falls are located along the Potaro River. |
| Kaieteur National Park is home to one of the world's most powerful waterfalls. Kaieteur Falls are five times higher than Niagara Falls at 226 meters. The falls reach 122 meters in width during rainy season. |
| Kaieteur Falls is one of the Kaieteur Falls National Park's most visited features. Approximately 3,100 tourists visit the falls each year. Most tourists visit the falls in small groups so it is never overcrowded. |
| Reaching Kaieteur Falls is done by road, aircraft or river expedition. |
| Plants found growing in Kaieteur National Park include lichens, herbs, bladderwort, bromeliad, yellow-eyed grass, mosses, orchids, ferns, African violets, and several endemic species such as the fern Hecistopteris kaieteurensis. |
| Kaieteur National Park is considered to be one of the world's last untouched habitats. It is in such pristine condition that there are still trees growing in the park that were growing when Christopher Columbus 'discovered' the New World. |
| Red Howler monkeys are found in Kaieteur National Park. They are often compared to sounding like dinosaurs. |
| Golden dart frogs, which are extremely poisonous, can be found in Kaieteur National Park, living in bromeliads (flowering plants). This frog species is now considered threatened. |
| Until a few years ago, the government of Guyana had considered allowing logging of the rainforest, but the United Kingdom made efforts in 2008 to save this rainforest, one of only four intact rainforests left in the world. |
| Birds found in Kaieteur National Park include green ibises, turkey vultures, red and green macaws, ducky parrots, merlins, tawny-billed screech owls, black bellied cuckoos, wedge billed wood creepers, yellow billed jacamars, spot-winged antbirds and hundreds more. |
| Mammals found in Kaieteur National Park include pale throated sloths, many bat species, bush dogs, giant river otters, kinkajous, Brazilian tapirs, pacas, and tree rats among many other species. |
| There are many species of butterflies and moths in Kaieteur National Park including swallowtails, long wings, whites, and wood nymphs. |
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