A daredevil has become the first person to walk on a tightrope 1,800 feet across the brink of roaring Niagara Falls.

Intrepid Nik Wallenda, 33, said he achieved the feat with "a lot of praying", training and concentration.

The 33-year-old, a seventh generation member of the famed Flying Wallendas, had long dreamed of pulling off the stunt, never before attempted.

Others have wire-walked over the Niagara River but farther downstream and not since 1896.

An estimated crowd of 125,000 people on the Canadian side and 4,000 on the American side watched the stunt - in which Wallenda was tethered to prevent him falling in the river.