____ Chachapoyas Peru ____
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Waterfall Discovery in Chachapoyas high-jungles
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One of World's Highest Waterfalls
March 22, 2006
German explorer Stefan Ziemendorff reports he has found one of the world's highest waterfalls located in the isolated northern jungle near Chachapoyas.
The waterfall has rarely been seen by anyone, due to its remote location and legends that it is haunted by a mystical siren have kept the native population at bay for hundreds of years.
The waterfall measures 2,530 feet, Ziemendorff told Peru's state-run Channel 7 television. The highest falls are Salto del Angel (Angel's Leap) in Venezuela, which measures 3,189 feet, and South Africa's Tugela Falls, which are 3,110 feet high.
Ziemendorff explored a burial site in the valley of Uctubamba in the department of Amazonas, when he catched the sight of a waterfall at the other side of the valley. Ziemendorff works in a project for the drinkable water enterprise of Amazonas (Empresa de Agua Potable de Amazonas-Emusap) and participated in two expeditions later.
The waterfall called Gocta is located 5 hours walking from Cocachimba town, the group of Germans and Peruvians followed the guide Telosforo Santillan. Later the topographer of the Chachapoyas municipality Carlos Santamaria and the civil engineer Teony Alva Vives measured the waterfall.
According to Ziemendorff in the area are many tucans, monkeys, pumas and other animals.
This waterfall has been known by locals for decades, but only recently has its existence emerged as common knowledge. Local people feared the curse of a beautiful blond mermaid who lived in its waters if they revealed its whereabouts.
An ancient myth says that the mermaid keeps a golden bowl which in turn is guarded by a giant serpent, which is why locals since time immemorial have kept away from the waterfall, which they call the "spout."
Visit the Gocta Waterfall and Chachapoyas
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