Informative Facts

With an approximate length of 6400km, the Amazon River is considered the second largest river in the world after the Nile. The river’s main source is believed to be the Apurimac River, in Peru. It runs through Brazil. Peru, Bolivia, Columbia, Ecuador, Venezuela and Guyana. The river forms the largest drainage basin on earth and also contains the largest tropical rainforest in the world. The river is also the largest in South America. After flowing eastwards, the river eventually empties into the Atlantic Ocean.

Given below are some cool and interesting facts about the Amazon river and its drainage basin:

Even though it’s shorter than the Nile, the Amazon River contains more water than the Nile, Mississippi and Yangtze River combined. The river is also sometimes called the River Sea.

It has the largest drainage basin on earth with an approximate area of about 7,050,000 km².

Amazon River has an average water flow rate of 209000m³/s. This is the greater than the flow rates of the Congo, Orinoco, Ganges, Brahmaputra, Meghna, Madeira, Yangtze and the  Negro rivers combined.

The river has more than 1100 tributaries.

It contains more than 5000 different kind of fish species. Some of them are very deadly can kill humans. These include the Piranha, Candiru Fish, Pacu, Electric Eel, Arapaima and Payara fish.

The Amazon is also a home to a lot of deadliest species of animals, insects and reptiles.

The Amazon Rainforest in the Amazon drainage basin is the largest tropical rainforest on earth and occupies an area of about 5,500,000 km². The forest is often called as the “Lungs of our planet” because it absorbs about 25% of total Carbon Dioxide emissions produced.

More than one third of all living species reside in the Amazon forest.

The Amazon River and its rainforests are home to not only some incredible species of animals and birds but thousands of fruits and anti-cancer plants are also found in it.

The Amazon River contains about one fifth of all the freshwater on earth. It is also responsible for pouring 25% of the world’s fresh water into oceans.

The river has a width of 5 miles in several places. During the wet season, when the river volume is at its peak the width can increase up to 15 miles.

About 90% of the Amazon rainforest plants are yet to be studied and researched by scientists.

It is said that about 50 or more tribes living in different inner parts of the Amazon rainforest have never had any contact with the modern world.

The Amazon rainforest is being deforested very brutally. It is estimated that if the current rate of deforestation in the forest continues, by the year 2030, 27% of the rainforest will be without trees.

Monthly, over hundreds of the different species of plants, animals and birds living in the forest come under the threat of extinction. Many species have already gone extinct.

It is also believed, that many undiscovered species of the Amazon may already have gone extinct.

Tirich Mir is a mountain located in Chitral Valley, Pakistan. The mountain itself is a part of the Hindu-Kush Range. Tirich Mir is just near the northern border of Pakistan with Afghanistan. The mountain’s name is derived from Wakhi, a language spoken in the remote regions of Northern Pakistan. In Wakhi, Tirich means shadow and Mir means Darkness, hence Tirich Mir translates to King of Darkness. The most probable reason for this name is due to the fact that Tirich Mir casts long shadows over the Wakhan Corridor, which is inside Afghanistan and forms the Northern border of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Tirich Mir is the 33rd tallest mountain in the world and the 16th tallest in Pakistan. It’s also the tallest, in the Hindu-Kush mountain range.

Outside the Himalayas and Karokaram ranges, it’s the tallest mountain in the world.

The mountain is known to have a lot of dangerous and deep crevasses. It is believed that many trekkers and climbers have lost their lives by falling into these cracks. The difficult to climb glacier, and bad weather on the mountain is also another threat to climbers. So, the peak should only be scaled by professional climbers.

Tirich Mir can be reached after crossing the small village of Tirich in Chitral, which is also the last village before reaching the mountain.

The valley surrounding the mountain is very fertile and has a lot of fruit plants like apricots, apples, pears, pomegranate, mulberry, persimmon and walnuts.

Tirich Mir has a maximum height of 7708m. The mountain has seven smaller peaks too, all of which are above 7000m.

These summits are Tirich Mir North, Tirich Mir South, Tirich Mir East, Tirich Mir West I , Tirich Mir West II , Tirich Mir West III and Tirich Mir West IV.

The main peak of Tirich Mir(7708m) was first climbed successfully in 1950, by a group of climbers from Norway led by philosopher and writer Arne Naess. The peak was last climbed in 2016 by two French engineers.

Tirich Mir North, at 7056m, was climbed by a team of German and Austrian climbers in 1965.

Tirich Mir South, at 7100m, is yet to be climbed successfully. No one has reached the top of this summit.

Tirich Mir East is 7692m tall and was first scaled in 1964 by climbers from Norway.

Tirich Mir West I, at 7487m, was first climbed by a team if Czech climbers in 1967.

Tirich Mir West II, at 7500m, was first scaled successfully in 1974 by climbers from Italy.

Tirich Mir West III, at 7400m, was climbed in 1974 by French mountaineers.

Tirich Mir West IV, at 7338m, was climbed for the first time in 1967 by Austrian climbers.

The mountain’s higher elevations are covered in snow throughout the year and temperatures are quite low. Temperatures recorded on the mountain at a height of 4245m show an annual average temperature ranging from -23°C to 0°C. At even greater heights the temperatures drop to -35°C or even lower than that.