GLOBETROTTERS WRITING PROMPT

March Monthly Challenge — Waterfalls

High or low, thick or thin and certainly splashy

After beginning the year with two challenges featuring human-made constructions in the world, signs and bridges, we thought it was time for a more natural topic for the month of March.

While summer is ending in the southern hemisphere and the northern hemisphere is preparing for a flowery spring, I came to think of the hype of natural phenomenon that draws millions of visitors each year to the most diverse and unique destinations around the world.

Thinking back at it, I remember it was our first year living in the beautiful forest region of Odenwald in Central Germany when our boss recommended a hike in the forest leading toward a waterfall.

Well, that’s at least what he called it.

One afternoon, we headed out with some snacks, a bottle of water and of course my camera. The forest was lush but thick in moisture as it just had stopped raining and was about to begin again.

This didn’t dampen our mood as we were listening to birds in the trees and looked out for a deer or two in the bushes. We kept walking, happily chatting until all of a sudden we stopped.

“This is it?”

I asked while staring at the tiniest trickle dropping out of the moss-covered undergrowth. The water wasn’t dropping for more than an inch. But this must have been the waterfall he was talking about. There was even a signboard nearby and David couldn’t stop but burst into laughter.

Well, not all trips chasing waterfalls go according to plan or fulfill our expectations but at least we spent some fun hours in nature which we enjoyed as this waterfall was obviously more than a disappointment.

It was so little, I don’t even think I took a picture of it. At least I can’t find one.

Has this ever happened to you? That you’ve been promised a spectacular waterfall and upon arriving you were greeted by not more but a few drops of water running down a cliff face?

I know of tourists traveling through southern Africa to see one of the world’s largest waterfalls in the world and being disappointed upon arrival at Victoria Falls. Because they didn’t plan their stay and visited during the dry season.

In this case, I’d blame them. In parts of the world where vegetation and landscape depend on two very different seasons, a wet and a dry one, one should consider carefully when to visit. If you’re into seeing lots of wildlife, come during the dry season. If you want to see lush green landscapes and rushing waterfalls, then the wet season is the right choice.

But each their own.

Waterfalls are such spectacular natural phenomena in my eyes, The way they drop out of a lush green forest, off a cliff, or even out of the desert, there is nothing in this world to describe the beauty one sees with their own eyes.

I’ve made enough memories visiting waterfalls, showering underneath or swimming in the water below, I could fill a book with those experiences. But I am not calling for a chase who has seen more, better or higher falls.

This month, we are looking for your unique experience. Pick one waterfall or two and take us to the first time you visited the falls. Talk about the hike or drive to get there and you’re feelings once you saw the majestic or disappointing falls. Or tell us why you keep revisting the same set of waterfalls.

We do not want a listicle of waterfalls you’ve seen around the world but rather a few submissions displaying different experiences about different waterfalls. We like those personal and authentic essays the most.

Not every photograph must feature a waterfall but the main topic should evolve around it. And of course, we like a good selection of personal photographs decorating your essays.

Share with us your experience with waterfalls

You got the idea. We are looking for waterfalls you have encountered while traveling the world. High or low, wide or thin and certainly splashy. Whatever was special about them, share it with us together with your memories.

Waterfalls.

We want you to show us how waterfalls change over time or our conception of them does at least. Take us into the depth of a rushing river over a cliff.

Be creative.

Pull us in with your captivating narrative.

If you need some ideas, here we go:

The Ultimate Place to Find Waterfalls

My First Time Seeing This Beautiful Waterfall

I Have Been Walking Down an Alley When I Saw This Waterfall

I Didn’t Know I’d Fall in Love With the Beauty of Waterfalls

A Very Different Kind of Waterfall

I Never Understood Why People Would Visit Waterfalls

Please continue reading beyond this point. We explain the submission rules step by step. If you think you know them already and don’t need to bother reading them, the chances are high that your editors will reject your submission.

Since the number of submissions has increased in the new year, we decided to lift the bar higher. We no longer accept poorly formatted or written essays as well as stories with no proper photo credits or in general writers who ignore the submission rules of Globetrotters. Expect a straight reject if you do one of those.

This counts for the same if you come up with the smart idea of using the help of AI instead of your brain cells to create the post. As our team of editors is stepping up the fight against computer-generated content to highlight more high-quality travel essays written by our authentic writers, we do not shy away from removing writers altogether.

Please read carefully and don’t ignore our rules.

A requirement for the monthly challenge submissions is to tag 2 articles (from our publication) that either inspired you to go to this place, have quality content about the same country you’re talking about or maybe it’s just a travel piece you really enjoyed reading.

You can use the search function to review our publication and look for articles about your destination. It’s easy and a great way to show appreciation to other writers out here.

Also, don’t forget to tag writers properly. We no longer correct them for you. Read this article if you are unsure what I am talking about. Below you can see two examples of how to tag writers and mention their work.

We’re looking forward to your submissions. As always, at the end of the month, the editors of Globetrotters will announce their winners. While we also submit our entries, we do not participate in the competition.

Please remember to follow our guidelines when submitting an article:

• The maximum article length must be 10 minutes.
• Always credit your images. We only accept your own photographs. Please review our image policy if unsure.
• Write your article in the form title-subtitle-title image.
• Please add the tag “monthly challenge”.
• Make sure that travel is still a focus of your story.
• List 2 articles (from Globetrotters) and tag the writers who created them (if unsure of how to tag writers, please read this article)
• The challenge will run from February 1st until March 28th. We reserve the last days of the month to post the results from the challenge.
• For more clarification on submissions, visit the Globetrotters submission guidelines.

We, the team of editors at Globetrotters (JoAnn, Adrienne, Michele & Anne) want to thank each of you for contributing to our publication. You’ve sent so many fascinating articles on past challenges and we can’t wait for the next ones.

Thank you.

Adrienne Beaumont has kicked off the challenge with the first prompt submission.

Read here the final post of our previous monthly challenge. We asked you to share stories about bridges. In this article, the editors announce their personal winners: