Dubai Canal as its name suggests, is a 3.2-kilometer-long manmade inlet, whose width fluctuates between 80 to 120 meters. Inaugurated in 2016, the area along the waterway is home to massive hotel complexes, hundreds of restaurants, upscale apartment blocks, a lavish esplanade and also several bridges astride the canal. What would otherwise be an unassuming overpass for vehicles turned into a fata morgana, when the Sheikh Zayed Road Bridge over the canal was installed with an artificially-created waterfall. Dropping from a height of 8.5 meters, Dubai’s manmade falls comprise of two separates waterfalls along both sides of the road, each of which is made of 20 independent cascades.

To operate this whimsical water spectacle, 80 pumps draw seawater from the nearby canal before discharging it back from high above. The incessant stream of water continues all year round, except for the times when the fall’s sensors detect an incoming vessel and temporarily cease the flow. Unlike its nature-dwelling counterparts, Sheikh Zayed Bridge Waterfall is strikingly embellished with vivid and colorful illumination during the night, most often than not with purple and blue lights.

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