It is located on the Potaro River in Kaieteur National Park, central Essequibo Territory, Guyana.

It then flows over a series of steep cascades that, when included in the measurements, bring the total height to 251 metres (822 ft).

Upriver from the falls, the Potaro Plateau stretches out to the distant escarpment of the Pakaraima Mountains.

Brown and his partner James Sawkins had arrived in Georgetown in 1867, and while they did some of their mapping and preparation of geological reports together, some work was performed in separate expeditions, and Sawkins was taking a break from his work at the time of Brown's discovery of Kaieteur.

At this point, Brown did not have time to investigate Kaieteur Falls closely, so he returned one year later to make comprehensive measurements.