Kaieteur Falls which is one of the longest and widest rivers in South America and the longest river in Guyana. The falls were discovered by Europeans in 1870 by a party led by Charles Barrington Brown, a British geologist appointed as a government surveyor to the colony of British Guiana. Brown and his partner James Sawkins had arrived in Georgetown in 1867, and while they did some of their mapping and preparation of geological reports together, some work was performed in separate expeditions, and Sawkins was taking a break from his work at the time of Brown's discovery of Kaieteur. At this
American Falls jagged lip of the falls, the crest is about long (but see coastline paradox). The torrent of water passing over the crest of the falls is about deep. The height of the American Falls ranges between . This measurement is taken from the top of the Falls to top of the rock pile (talus). The height of the Falls from the top of the Falls to the river is . Visitors can view the falls from a steep angle on the American side, where it is possible to approach to within several meters of the edge of the falls. One