Most travellers or vacationers are well aware of the natural wonder known as Niagara Falls. Far fewer however are aware that there are actually two Niagara Falls – a Canadian falls and an American falls.
Situated on the border between Canada and U.S. sit the largest fresh water bodies in the world known as the “Great Lakes”. Flowing in between two of these lakes, Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, and straddling the Canadian/U.S. Border flows the Niagara River. It's on this river that the precipitous falls known as 'Niagara Falls' are located.
The most famous set of falls are located on the Canadian side. This set of falls are much larger than on the American side and the city on the edge of the falls (not coincidentally called the city of “Niagara Falls”) contains most of the tourist attractions. It's from the Canadian side where you can take helicopter rides, take a walk behind the Canadian side of the falls, or take a trip on the river at the bottom of the falls in the boat known as 'The Maid of the Mist'.
The Maid of the Mist boat is aptly named, as the millions of gallons of water flowing over the falls dashes onto the rocks below creates an almost impenetrable fog that coats everything in the area. Visitors to Niagara Falls frequently wear rain coats to prevent the drenching you'll get just by walking in the neighborhood of the falls.
The Canadian side of the falls is also where throughout history daredevils have gone over the falls in wooden barrels. As recently as 2012 daredevils have also completed tightrope walks across the falls. Hopefully these folks have their travel health insurance all paid up. Speaking of which, Canadians can get their coverage right in Canada from providers such as Allianz Global Assistance online. I'm pretty sure that stunts like this will void whatever travel insurance you do have through any provider.
The second set of falls are located on the U.S. Flowing from the same Niagara River, the American falls are visible to visitors on the Canadian side. These falls are much smaller than the Canadian falls and are much less popular with far fewer tourist draws. And since you can view the American falls while visiting the Canadian side, there seems little point in making a cross border trip to the U.S. side.
Still if you are so inclined, travel between the two countries at Niagara Falls is easy enough. There exists multiple border bridge crossings along the Niagara River. In fact the Queenston Lewiston bridge just down the river is one of Canada/US's busiest border crossings. The two countries share a few other features along this stretch of river. All this vertical drop of water makes the area excellent for hydro-electric power generation so there are some very large power generation stations in the area.
Secondly, as the honeymoon traffic has declined in the last decade, both sides of the falls have taken to building casinos. Today, both Niagara Falls on the Canadian side and Buffalo on the U.S. side have invested in casinos and hotels to draw in tourists. Visitors to the falls now frequent casinos on both sides of the border, since it's a short few minute drive across the local bridges to cross into the other country.
What about you – did you know there were two falls? Have you ever visited these wonders of the world?
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