Roaring Mekong
A mass of water.
Basile Morin — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Pierre André Leclercq — CC BY 4.0 · Jakub Hałun — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Jakub Hałun — CC BY-SA 4.0
The largest falls in South-East Asia, where the whole Mekong breaks over rock barriers in a chain of roaring falls and rapids. Taken together, the Khone Falls are the widest waterfall in the world, more than ten kilometres across from one edge of their channels to the other. From wooden platforms and walkways you watch a vast mass of brown-and-white water hurling between the rocks under clouds of spray, the highest falls reaching about 21 metres. The flow peaks in the rainy season from July to October, when the roar is deafening. These falls are why the Mekong cannot be navigated up to China, which is why the French laid a short railway across Don Det and Don Khon islands in the 1890s to carry boats around them; its traces remain. The fee differs depending on whether you take the electric cart or walk, and sources differ on the amount. Stay behind the railings: the rocks are slippery and the current deadly.
A mass of water.
Over the rocks.
Close views.
East bank of the Mekong near the Cambodian border, Champasak province
Yes, the Khone Falls together are over ten kilometres wide, and the largest in South-East Asia by volume.