Angel Falls

I spent 3 days out in Canaima, in South Eastern Venezuela. I flew to Canaima to view Salto Angel, otherwise known as Angel Falls. Name after Jimmy Angel, the discoverer of the famous fall. He discovered it on 16 November 1933.

Angel Fall is the highest waterfall in the world, at 979 metres there are no other waterfall that comes even close!

The day before we got there we receive a dose of heavy rain. Exactly what was needed for the big water experience. And so on the day we got there, it was mysty and cloudy. I love it though as seeing Angel Falls for the first time through the fog seem quite surreal!

But we ended up getting the best of both world as after noon the fog lift and the weather clear up brilliantly. However the fall was still too strong from the overnight rain so we weren't able to swim in the pool below the fall. The force of the water below created a wind draft that was strong enough to blow a baby off!

The trip out to Angel Falls is an adventure in itself too. We paid 850 Bolivars (170USD Black Market rate) for a "cheaper" tour. This meant that our group had to take a 2 hours car ride from Ciudad Bolivar to La Paragua. From there it was a 30 minutes plane ride on a 6 seater Cessna to Canaima.

And then in Canaima, it was a walk, followed by a 4 hours boat ride, and then another 1 hour trek to get close to the falls.

Along the way we got to view other water falls too, like this amazing El Sapo falls. The coolest thing about this big fall is that you can walk behind the fall, and see it fall in front of you like a curtain. The spray from these falls was awesome and the whole group was very wet when we eventually headed off.

The area around Angel Fall is also full of Tepuis. Otherwise known as the Table Mountains. These flat top mountains rises magnificiently over the surrounding countryside. They all seem to top off at about 2500 metres. The Tepuy that Angel Falls is on is the known as Auyan-tepui. It is also the biggest Tepuy in the world, measuring 700 square km.

For more information on this amazing fall check out Wiki!

The only poo poo from the trip out to the falls were that 5 out of 6 in the group had money stolen. We suspect it may have been the boat driver and his helper but we have no prove. However I only had 20,000 Bolivars stolen (about 4USD worth) but my friends had about 20-40USD stolen from them (all Black market rate of course!).

Still, it will not stop me from recommending the tour company that we went with or the tour guide that we had. The company was call Adrenaline and our guide was Gabriella.