Khone Falls

The Khone Falls is a waterfall on the Mekong River in Laos in the Ban Hang Khone province near its border with Cambodia. The Khone Falls are the main reason that the Mekong is not navigable into China.

The falls' total height is 70 feet (21 meters) in segmented cascades (or rapids) stretching over six miles (10 kilometers) of the river's length. The average discharge of the cataract is nearly 3 million U.S. gallons per second (11,000 cubic meters per second), though the highest volume on record was reached at over 13 million U.S. gallons per second (49,000 cubic meters per second).

The falls are home to the plabuck, an endangered species of Catfish said to be the largest freshwater fish in the world. The plabuck is alleged to reach lengths of 10 feet (3 meters) and weights of up to 1,000 pounds (450 kilograms).