Tugela Falls

The Tugela drops off the top of the Amphitheatre in five stages totalling roughly 948 metres, which puts it in direct competition with Angel Falls in Venezuela for the title of world's tallest - a dispute that turns on how each is measured and which has been argued back and forth in survey papers, so the honest phrasing is that it is one of the two tallest, not definitively the first. There are two ways to see it. From above, the Sentinel car park route climbs to the escarpment top and reaches the lip of the falls via two chain ladders bolted to a cliff, a serious walk with real exposure. From below, the Tugela Gorge trail in Royal Natal follows the river up to a boulder-choked gorge and a view of the full drop. The fall is at its strongest in summer storms and can freeze into a hanging ribbon in winter.

What you actually see

• The five-stage drop - about 948 metres off the Amphitheatre wall.
• The chain ladders - bolted ladders on the Sentinel route to the escarpment top.
• The gorge view - the whole fall seen from below on the Royal Natal trail.
• The contested record - one of the two tallest waterfalls, depending on the measurement.

When to go

November to March for volume; winter for clear air and the chance of ice. A full day either route.

Honest expectations

The chain ladders are exposed and have caused accidents; weather on the escarpment changes fast and people have died in storms up there. The gorge walk is long with boulder hopping. In dry winter weeks the falls can be a thin trickle. Both routes need an early start.

Nearby

Royal Natal National Park sits below the Amphitheatre; Sentinel is above it.