October 29, 2014

1321 GUYANA - Kaieteur Falls


Located on the Potaro River, in Kaieteur National Park, Kaieteur Falls were discovered in1870 by the British geologist Charles Barrington Brown. They have 226m high from its plunge over a sandstone and conglomerate cliff to the first break, and are among the most powerful waterfalls in the world, with an average flow rate of 663 cubic metres per second. In other words, this single drop waterfall is about four times higher than the Niagara Falls, and about twice the height of the Victoria Falls.

In terms of the human heritage of this area, it was said to still be inhabited by native Amerindians. In fact, Kaieteur Falls was said to be named after an Amerindian chief by the name of Kai who gave his life by canoeing over the falls. Apparently he did this in order to protect his tribe from a rival Carib tribe by means of divine intervention (i.e. I guess the Great Spirit would intervene if Chief Kai sacrificed himself). The word "teur" meant falls in the native Amerindian language so technically it would be redundant to include the word "Falls" in Kaieteur.

About the stamps
The first stamp is part of a series of birds, comprising 12 stamps issued on August 16, 1994.


The last stamp, depicting Admiral Lord Nelson wounded (1797), was issued in 2005 to celebrate Bicentenary of the Battle of Trafalgar.

References
Kaieteur Falls - World of Waterfalls
Kaieteur Falls - Wikipedia
Kaieteur Falls - Beautiful World

Sender: ???
Sent from Georgetown (Guyana), on 12.02.2014

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