You type Tonga cliff mystery into Google and this pops up. A rock. Yep, just a rock. At least at first glance.
But it gets weird once you realize this is actually a two-story tall boulder perched on top of a 120 ft high cliff in Tonga.
And it's chilling there at a whopping 128 ft above sea level. So, how the heck did this rock get there? First, a proper introduction.
This is Makalahi, which means big rock in Tongan. This name hits the nail on the head because this baby stands at about 22 ft tall.
That's taller than a giraffe standing on its tiptoes. And it weighs over 1,300 tons.
And that's like stacking nearly 325 elephants on a giant scale. With those massive measurements, it makes total sense that the locals call it Makalahi.
But from now on, we can also think of it as the giant tsunami rock. And to understand why, I've got to tell you the story of Makalahi in Tonga.
In 2024, researchers from the University of Queensland's School of the Environment were exploring the southern side of Tangatapu Island.
One day, they were chatting with a group of local farmers who mentioned a strange and massive rock sitting up on a cliff. And they were honestly pretty surprised.
After all, it didn't make any sense for such a huge boulder to be located that far inland, especially since it's sitting about 656 ft away from the edge of the cliff.
