Our drone has captured one of Norway’s largest waterfalls being created in a few seconds.

The river leading up to the waterfall in the small town of Rjukan in Norway was redirected through pipelines many years ago to supply power to electricity production. Therefore the waterfall is now just a tiny stream barely visible.

Luckily someone came up with a rather crazy idea: A theatrical play is performed three times per year next to the dried up waterfall and they wanted a grand ending to the play. How about releasing 50 000 litres of water per second into the waterfall again? Sure, why not!

Due to this it is possible to witness a tiny stream turn into one of Norway’s largest waterfalls in just a few seconds. The dam is opened and an incredible amount of water is released at once.

From the dam is opened until the water reaches the waterfall it actually takes 58 minutes. Still, the water is flowing at a fast pace, so little warning is given before the waterfall bursts into life.

It was therefore quite challenging to document this at the right moment. The DSLR has more or less unlimited battery life, but the drone cannot stay airborne for more than 15-16 minutes, which also needs to include a safe landing. The drone was therefore launched as late as possible. Still no water was in sight and the battery started to reach a critical level. First battery warning was ignored, then it started to complain a lot about the battery and warned about flying back on its own. We were about to give up when suddenly the water reached the waterfall!

A thin white stripe fell down the steep cliff walls and within seconds it had transformed into a huge waterfall. The drone managed to capture it all and landed (safely) back at the viewing point with 45 seconds of battery life left. Good timing?

Do you want to experience this yourself? The theatrical play named Marispelet is performed 24-27 July in 2019 and will present new opportunities to see the waterfall!