Rivers, streams and springs

Austria

Botswana

Cambodia

Cameroun

Waterfall on the Vina River, 40 m high, near Ngaunderé. The plant with yellow flowers is Mexican sunflower (Tithonia diversifolia), a pan-tropical weed, described on the page Nature: Invasive species. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

Central African Republic

Chile

China

Costa Rica

Croatia

Plitviče Lakes National Park is a forest reserve in central Croatia, covering 295 square kilometres. It contains 16 terraced lakes, joined by waterfalls, which enter a limestone canyon.

Democratic Republic of Congo, see Zaire

Denmark

Store Blåkilde (‘Great Blue Spring’), south of Rold Forest, northern Jutland, is the largest basin spring in Denmark, measuring 12 m across and up to 5 m deep, with crystal-clear water. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

Despite its name, Lille Blåkilde (‘Small Blue Spring’), in Rold Skov, yields more water than Store Blåkilde, about 150 liters per second, more than any other spring in Denmark. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

Kobbeåen is a small stream at the east coast of Bornholm, which makes its way through a former canyon. Several rock faces still rise vertically from the water. This valley contains the tallest waterfall in Denmark – that is if you talk about a free fall. It is 4 m tall, and through aeons, it has cut another 4 m down into the surrounding rock.

The fall is called Stavehøl, but in reality it is the name of a small pool in a hollow, which the fall has eroded into the rock, in Bornholmian høl. The fall should be experienced in spring, when the water is roaring down through the narrow canyon. Late in the summer, the amount of water rather resembles what comes out of a garden hose!

Gedved Møllebæk, a brook in Elling Forest south of Skanderborg, Jutland, with vegetation of flowering white butterbur (Petasites albus) and white anemone (Anemone nemorosa). (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

Ravnekilde, a clean spring in Rold Skov, northern Jutland, with vegetation of common sorrel (Rumex acetosa), the variety hydrophilus, which is endemic in Denmark. Also present are palustriella moss (Palustriella commutata) and brook moss (Brachythecium rivulare). (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

Through aeons, this small waterfall has been cutting down into sedimentary rock formations, consisting of c. 450 million years old Dicellograptus slate, along Risebæk, a brook in western Bornholm. The green leaves in the foreground are ramsons (Allium ursinum), an invasive plant, which is a nuisance in many woods in Denmark. It is described on the page Nature: Invasive species. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

Døndalen is a small valley in the eastern part of the island Bornholm, in the Baltic Sea. It was once a canyon, in which the rock faces have moved about 500 m away from each other. The western rockface is still vertical, about 25 m tall.

During the Last Ice Age, parts of the valley became a lake, as a glacier blocked the outlet to the east. In this lake, fine-grained clay was deposited, through which the stream Døndaleåen cut its way. If you follow the bank of the stream, you soon encounter the Døndal Waterfall, which has several sections, altogether with a height of about 20 m. In summer, it is not very spectacular – it should be experienced in spring, when the meltwater roars down over the rocks. The Bornholmians use the expression dønnar about the sound, which gave name to the falls.

Egypt

England

Estonia

Ethiopia

The Blue Nile originates in Lake Tana in the Ethiopian Highlands, from where it makes its way c. 1,500 km to Khartoum, in the Sudan, where it joins the larger White Nile.

The name Blue Nile is in fact a misnomer. During the summer monsoon, this river washes down huge amounts of soil from the highlands, which turns its water almost black. In a local Sudanese language, the word for black is also used for blue, so, in reality, the river should be called ‘The Black Nile’.

The first written account of the Blue Nile is from 1565, when a Portuguese, João Bermudes, who called himself Patriarch of Ethiopia, provided a description of the Blue Nile Falls, Tississat, in his memoirs.

Incidentally, to many Christian Ethiopians, the Blue Nile is identified as the sacred river Gihon, one of the four rivers flowing out from the Garden of Eden, as related in Genesis, 2:13.

Faroe Islands

Fossurin í Fossá (‘The Waterfall in the River of Waterfalls’), near the village Haldórsvík, Streymoy, is one of the highest waterfalls in the Faroe Islands, falling 140 m in two stages.(Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

France

Germany

Greece

Iceland

Goðafoss is a number of waterfalls in northern Iceland, located on the river Skjálfandafljót, altogether with a width of about 30 m, and a maximum height of 12 m. The name may mean ‘waterfall of the gods’, referring to two crags at the falls, which resemble pagan idols.

Svartifoss (‘Black Falls’), Skaftafell, Vatnajökull National Park, southern Iceland, is only 20 m high, but is nevertheless very spectacular, due to the dark hexagonal basalt columns around it, which gave rise to its name. (Photos copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

Gullfoss (‘Golden Falls’) is a waterfall, located in the canyon of the Hvítá River, south-western Iceland. The fall plunges in two stages, 11 and 21 m, into a 32 m deep, 20 m wide, and 2.5 km long canyon. The average amount of water in the fall is 141 m³ per second in the summer, and 80 m³ per second in the winter, with a record of a stunning 2,000 m³ per second.

In the 1900s, there was much talk about using Gullfoss to generate electricity, but luckily it was given up, partly due to lack of money. Today, the waterfall is protected.

Seljalandsfoss is a waterfall on the Seljalands River, which originates in the glacier Eyjafjallajökull, southern Iceland. The fall drops 60 m, and visitors can walk behind it into a small cave. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

India

Ladakh, Lahaul, and Spiti are barren desert lands in north-western India, which, geologically, constitute a part of the Tibetan Plateau. The following 10 pictures show rivers in these dry areas, which form green oases, where plants, animals, and people can thrive.

Tsarap River, near Pang (4570 m), Ladakh. Earth pyramids, whose formation is explained on the page Nature: Rocks, boulders and stone fences, are seen in the upper picture. (Photos copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

Lush vegetation along a stream, including Himalayan balsam (Impatiens glandulifera), a groundsel, Jacobaea analoga, a thistle, Cirsium wallichii, a pinkweed, Koenigia polystachya, a yellowhead, Inula orientalis, and a willow (Salix), Sissu, Lahaul. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

Kalhatti Waterfalls are located c. 15 km from the town of Ooty in the Nilgiri Mountains, Tamil Nadu. The falls can only be reached by foot, hiking 3 km from Kalhatti Village. According to local folklore, the Hindu Brahman Agastya spent some time in these parts. He is revered as the Brahman who brought Sanskrit-speaking civilization to South India. It is believed that he received many of the earliest mantras in the Rig Veda directly from the supreme god Brahma.

The Great Himalayan National Park in Himachal Pradesh, east of Kullu and west of Nepal, was established in 1984, covering an area of 1171 square kilometres, with elevations ranging between 1500 and 6000 m. In 2007, together with Indian forester Ajai Saxena, his wife Madhu, and our staff, I undertook two hikes in this park, described in detail on the page Plants – Plant hunting in the Himalaya: Abode of the deodar.

At several spots, the trail along the Tirthan River had been washed away by heavy monsoon showers, and new ‘paths’ had been constructed, many of them leading through the river itself. (Photos copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

The mighty Ganges River, in India often called Mother Ganga, is the most sacred river for Hindus. It originates from the Gangotri Glacier in the Himalaya, flowing 2,525 km southwards and eastwards across India and then through Bangladesh to the Bay of Bengal, together with the Brahmaputra River forming the world’s largest river delta.

Waterfall, near Manali, Himachal Pradesh. The plant in the lower picture is a species of balsam, Impatiens sulcata. This and several other balsam species are described on the page Plants: Himalayan flora 1. (Photos copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

On several occasions during a hike in the Nanda Devi National Park, Uttarakhand, my companion John Burke and I had to cross the Rishi Ganga on simple wooden bridges or simply on logs, placed across the river or its tributaries. A number of pictures from this interesting hike are shown on the page Travel episodes – India 1982: Pleasures of Nanda Devi.

Indonesia

Iran

Iraq

Evening light at the Euphrates River, near Ramadi. The birds roosting in the river are white pelicans (Pelecanus onocrotalus). This bird is described on the page Animals – Birds: Birds in Turkey. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

Ireland

The Liffey Bridge, until the Irish independence in 1922 known as the Wellington Bridge, spans the Liffey River in Dublin. It was built in 1816 and is reverved for pedestrians. Until 1916, anyone who crossed the bridge, had to pay half a penny, hence its popular name Ha’penny Bridge. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

Italy

Cascata del Fontanon di Goriuda is a waterfall in the Raccolana Valley in northern Italy, between Chiusaforte and Cave del Predil. The last part of the fall is vertical, dropping about 40 m. Over time, the fall has carved out a small pool at the foot of the rock.

Jordan

Wadi Zarqa Ma’in is a river in the Jordan Valley, southwest of the city Madaba. Along this wadi are more than 55 mineral springs with cold or hot water, some with temperatures up to 60^oC. The river empties into the Dead Sea.

Kenya

Kosovo

Malaysia

Together with 4 Punan guides, Elisabeth and Walter Souvignier and I undertook a week-long trip through the rainforest of Sarawak, Borneo, first punting up the Sungai Ba River, and then walking across low mountains to the Sungai Puti River. Here, our guides left us after negotiating with other people to take us down the river. Finally, we boarded a ferryboat down the Kakus River to the coastal town of Bintulu.

Fallen logs had blocked the Sungai Puti, and we had to haul our canoe over several of them. Luckily, it rained during the following night, and the water level rose sufficiently for us to use the outboard engine. (Photos copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

Montenegro

Myanmar

Nepal

Janai is the sacred hand-spun string, which men from the three highest Hindu castes wear around their body, from the left shoulder to the right hip. During the festival Janai Purnima, on Full Moon Day in July or August, every Tagadhari (‘wearer of the sacred string’) will replace his janai with a new one. For Vaishnavites (followers of the supreme god Vishnu), the Muktinath Temple in Mustang, central Nepal, is an especially auspicious place to change your janai. During Janai Purnima, thousands of pilgrims crowd around this temple.

From the sacred Muktinath spring, water is led to the temple, where it sprouts from the mouths of 108 sculptures, of which 105 are shaped as ox heads, whereas the three remaining ones depict mythical creatures. (Photos copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

These girls are cleansing themselves ritually, passing under the 108 fountains. Buddhist prayer flags have been tied to strings above the fountains, as Muktinath is also a sacred place to Buddhists. (Photos copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

The Rapti River in southern Nepal constitutes the northern border of Chitwan National Park. The following 5 pictures were all taken near the village of Sauraha.

Elephants are used to bring tourists into the national park to watch wildlife. The man is carrying his bicycle across the river. In 1985, when this picture was taken, a few villages were still located inside the park. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

The Vishnumati River (‘Beloved River of Lord Vishnu’) originates in the Shivapuri Mountains north of Kathmandu and then flows through the western part of the city.

The Vishnumati River is sacred to both Hindus and Buddhists, but nevertheless acts as a garbage dump. These pictures from 1994 (top) and 2022 show that things have hardly improved in the intervening period. (Photos copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

The Kali Gandaki River originates at an elevation of 6,268 m from the Nhubine Himal Glacier in the Mustang region of northern Nepal, near the border with Tibet. It then flows south through Mustang and enters what is known as the Kali Gandaki Gorge – in reality not a gorge as such, but a group of towering mountains along the river, of which the tallest is Dhaulagiri (8167 m), the seventh-highest mountain in the world. When the river reaches its confluence with the Trisuli River at Devghat in the lowland Terai plains of Nepal, it becomes the Narayani River.

The village of Kagbeni has a dramatic location on the shores of the Kali Gandaki River, in the southern part of Mustang. This village is dominated by its huge red gompa (Tibetan style Buddhist monastery). (Photos copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

During the Hindu festival of Maha Shivaratri (‘Great Shiva’s Night’), Hindu pilgrims wade across the sacred (but highly polluted) Bagmati River in Kathmandu, to pay a visit to the Pashupatinath Temple, which is dedicated to the supreme god Shiva. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

In Kathmandu, most cremations are performed on the shore of the Bagmati River, near the Pashupatinath Temple. In this picture, a family member throws red dye on the funeral pyre. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

New Zealand

Hot springs abound in New Zealand. The following 5 pictures are all from the Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Area, North Island.

Norway

Låtefoss is a 165 m long waterfall, located in Vestland County, south-western Norway. This waterfall consists of two separate streams, flowing down from Lake Lotevatnet, joining just before running under the National Road 13. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

Philippines

In this picture, the Pasig River in Manila is filled with water hyacinths (Eichhornia crassipes), an invasive plant from South America, which is described on the page Nature: Invasive species. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

Portugal

Russia

Scotland

Slovenia

Waterfalls in the Vrata Valley, Triglavski National Park. The tree in the bottom picture is Norway spruce (Picea abies), described on the page Plants: Ancient and huge trees. (Photos copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

South Africa

Augrabies Falls is a waterfall on the Orange River, about 56 m high. The fall and the surrounding area was declared a national park in 1966. Other pictures from this park are shown on the page Nature: Rocks, boulders and stone fences. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

Spain

Sri Lanka

Sweden

Stora Sjöfallet (‘The Great Lake Falls’), in Sami Stuormuorkkegårttje (‘The Great Fall in the Land between Two Lakes’), is a waterfall in Swedish Lappland, which was once among the most powerful and striking waterfalls in Europe. The fall and the surrounding area was declared a national park in 1909, but already in 1913 the government permitted a hydroelectric plant to be built at the falls, with power lines, roads, and gravel banks. Due to the extensive damage of the area, the fall is no longer a part of the national park. A dam created an artificial lake, called Áhkkájávre, named after a nearby mountain massif.

A few times a year, for the benefit of tourists, a large amount of water is allowed to flow through Stora Sjöfallet. This happened on the day that I visited the fall. (Photo Jørn Halberg, copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

Switzerland

Reichenbachfall is a series of 7 waterfalls with a height of altogether 300 m on the Reichenbach River, near Meiringen, Berner Oberland. At 120 m, the upper waterfall is the highest.

These falls were made famous by British author Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) as the place, where his fictional detective Sherlock Holmes, in The Final Problem, fought against his criminal opponent, Professor Moriarty. Initially, the story ended with the two dying by falling into the falls. However, this caused a chorus of protests among Sherlock Holmes fans, so, ingeniously, Conan Doyle restored Holmes to life in the story The Empty House.

The fight between Sherlock Holmes and Professor Moriarty at the Reichenbachfall. (Drawing by Sidney Paget, 1893, public domain)

Meltwater from a glacier, creating a small alpine lake, Oberalp Pass (2044 m), on the border between kantons Uri and Graubünden. The yellow flowers are marsh marigolds (Caltha palustris), described on the page Plants: Flora in the Alps and the Pyrenees. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

Weisse Lütschine (‘White Lütschine’), a stream known for its white and icy blue colours, stemming from meltwater from the surrounding glaciers, Obersteinberg, Lauterbrunnen Valley, Berner Oberland. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

Taiwan

Taoshan is an 80 m high waterfall in Wuling National Forest, eastern Taiwan.

Through millenia, the Taroko Gorge in eastern Taiwan was carved by the Liwu River. This marble canyon, 19 km long, spans from near the coast to the small town of Tianxiang, at an altitude of about 450 m.

Concrete wall in another drainage canal in Taichung. A little egret (Egretta garzetta) is standing on the wall. This bird is described on the page Animals – Birds: Birds in Taiwan. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

Tanzania

Tunisia

Turkey

At Pamukkale, western Turkey, water, containing dissolved calcium bicarbonate, is seeping down a slope over a wide area, where the mineral is deposited, and, over time, has formed numerous bluish-white terraces, some dry, some containing ponds with shallow water. Pictures from this area are shown on the page Nature: Nature’s patterns.

In this picture, water is falling over the edge of one of the terraces at Pamukkale. A small fig tree (Ficus carica) is growing behind the falling water. This species is described on the page Plants: Fig trees. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

United States

Yosemite is a national park in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, California – a varied area with outstanding granite formations, rivers, waterfalls, lakes, meadows, glaciers, large groves of the huge giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum), and a very rich wildlife. The vegetation of the area is described on the page Plants: Plants of the Sierra Nevada, and the giant sequoia is also presented on the page Plants: Ancient and huge trees.

Merced River and Half Dome, a granite rock named after its shape. One side is a sheer rock face, whereas the other three sides are smooth and round, making the rock appear like a dome, cut in half. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

Yosemite Falls, divided into 3 sections, is the highest waterfall in Yosemite National Park, dropping a total of 739 m. The upper fall drops 440 m. The middle section, named the Middle Cascades, are 4 small falls, dropping altogether 206 m, which is more than twice the height of the lower fall. (Photos copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

A small stream meanders through Upper Meadow, near King’s Creek, Lassen Volcanic National Park, Cascade Range, California, with Lassen Peak (3187 m) in the background. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

Niagara Falls are 3 waterfalls, situated on the Niagara River, on the border between Ontario, Canada, and New York State. The largest of the falls is Horseshoe Falls, also known as Canadian Falls. The smaller American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls lie within New York State. Bridal Veil Falls is separated from Horseshoe Falls by Goat Island and from American Falls by Luna Island. The highest drop is around 50 m, and more than 168,000 m³ of water goes over the crest of the falls every minute.

Kayaking on the Housatonic River, with Bulls Bridge, a covered wooden bridge, in the background. This bridge, and other covered bridges, are described on the page Culture: Bridges. (Photos copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

Vietnam

Zaire

I prefer to use the name Zaire, the former name of the country, which is today officially called The Democratic Republic of Congo – a somewhat laborious name, I must say. Besides, you can hardly place the term ‘democratic’ on a country that, for decades, has been pervaded by a chaos of violence.

Zambia/Zimbabwe

On 16 November 1855, Scottish physician and missionary David Livingstone (1813-1873) was exploring the Zambezi River in what is today Zambia. He encountered a huge waterfall on the river, which he named Victoria Falls in honour of Queen Victoria (1819-1901). The local Sotho name of the falls is Mosi-oa-Tunya (‘The Smoke That Thunders’), referring to the roaring sound of the waterfall, and to the mist that rises from evaporation of the water.

Today, Victoria Falls is situated on the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia, as the Zambezi river constitutes the border between the two countries. Although it is neither the highest nor the widest waterfall in the world, it is nevertheless the largest, with a combined width of 1,708 m and a maximum height of 108 m.

(Uploaded May 2024)

(Latest update May 2026)

Kaj Halberg - writer & photographer

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Rivers, streams and springs