Gocta Cataracts

Gocta waterfall, Bongará, Peru

The Peruvian Gocta waterfall with 771 meters height of the highest in the world. Its water volume varies greatly, depending on the instantaneous precipitation in his small, rocky basin, which lies at an altitude 2500-3000 m. It is located in the province of Bongará, about 20 kilometers north of Chachapoyas, capital of the Amazonas region in Peru. A few kilometers north is the waterfall Yumbilla, with nearly 900m drop height, but only during the rainy season water bearing.

The Gocta is named after the nearby village of the same name. The place name has its origin in the Quechua dialect of the local population.

Legends Gocta

Many myths surround the waterfall, its proximity feared the descendants of the Chachapoyas and whose existence they sought to keep secret why. For this reason, one could find the Gocta long time on any map. These myths are taken extremely seriously by the locals. So the legend goes around by a beautiful siren, who lives in the lagoon of the waterfall. She is considered the mother of the fish of the river and a Watcher, a pot of gold. Who was fond of his life, as the locals say, the not dare be near her.

One of their victims, the peasant Juan Mendoza is inexplicably disappeared in the vicinity of the waterfall a few years ago. The faith to Mendoza was transformed and now has to defend himself with his shoulders the massive volume of water that fall down from the top of a rock.

Discovery and surveying

Stefan Ziemendorff, German aid worker and coordinator of the plan " 100,000 water connections", the impressive waterfall first saw in 2002 during an expedition to the rough nature reserve. End of February 2006 returned Ziemendorff back with a Peruvian research team to carry out the survey. The height of 771 m could be determined with an uncertainty of 13.5 m.

At the subsequent press conference called Ziemendorff the Gocta as the third highest waterfall in the world, the Angel Falls in Venezuela only from the (972 m) and the Tugela Falls in South Africa ( 948 m) is exceeded and the Yosemite Falls to fourth place points. He relied on it to the National Geographic Society in 2005., The criteria that define a waterfall, however, are controversial. So partly the Ramnefjellsfossen (808 m) and the Mongefossen (773 m) in Norway are classified as waterfalls. However, both have hardly any free cases and occur only during the spring thaw. At the privately run database World Waterfall Database According ranked the Gocta in 14th place. There, however, anyone can enter waterfalls with untested heights.

Tourism

Within the waterfall is the area of the Sierra (mountains - precursor of the rainforest ) is predominant with many endangered animal species. These include spectacled bear, puma, toucans and rare hummingbird and parrot species. The rain forest is part of a 3,300 -square-kilometer nature reserve.

This natural paradise is threatened by extensive agriculture (sugar cane ), which so far is the only source of income of the nearby villages and Coca Cocachimba. The residents of the area are living in very simple conditions. Visitors are asked to search the spot guide and to buy provisions. This will ensure that the revenues are from tourism not only in the major travel agencies, but also bring the local people a direct improvement of living conditions.

Every visitor has to register on-site at the town hall and pay 10 soles " entry ". For the walk of about two hours to walk the upper or lower level of a local guide is essential. Without a guide one may visit the waterfall only after written confirmation of knowledge of the potential dangers.