Angel Falls, the deepest and highest waterfall in the world, is located in South America, in southeastern Venezuela, among the jungles of the Guiana Plateau, in the municipality of Gran Sabara. The nearest village, Canaima, is 50 kilometers away, and the nearest large town, Ciudad Bolívar, is 600 kilometers away.
Description of Angel Falls
Despite the fact that the waterfall is remote from civilization, life here boils – because to see the natural attraction come from everywhere. This is because Angel has a height of 979 meters. The Pemon Indians who live here call the waterfall “Kerepacupai Mera”, which translates as “the waterfall with the greatest depth”.
The water falls at such a velocity that it turns into dust even 300 meters to the ground. This makes it seem as if the water, falling with a powerful stream, simply dissipates into fog. And in the dense jungle, as if out of nowhere, a beautiful river called Churun appears.
In addition to being the highest, Angel Falls are very difficult to reach. The state does not take any steps to develop the region in any way. But thanks to this it has been possible to preserve the uniqueness of nature.
How the waterfall was formed
As already mentioned, the waterfall is located in South America on the Guiana Plateau. The terrain is undulating plains with pinnacles that stand in the middle of flat areas, the plateaus. The base of these flat areas is composed of hardened lava and red sandstone.
Zigzagging down the highlands, the Churun River ends up on a plateau, which is also the summit of Mount Auyantepui. Approaching the precipice, the speed of the river becomes faster and faster, and it begins its fall. The water first travels 807 meters and then collides with an obstacle and flies another 172 meters.
An interesting fact is that to this day geologists still can not define the height of the waterfall – some believe that it is 979 meters, while others tend to 1054 meters. And all this because the river has cut a notch at the top of the precipice, so the waterfall does not start with the top edge, but below about 80-100 meters.
Historical Facts
Before 1933, no one knew of the existence of the waterfall except the tribes living there. They believed that there were evil spirits on the mountain, so they did not dare to climb to the top.
On November 19, 1935, James Angel, an American pilot, flew to the area in search of either gold or diamonds. Flying over the area, Angel noticed a stunning waterfall that impressed him greatly. Two years later, James Angel flew there again with his wife and two traveling companions. But one of the landing gear broke during the landing, so the team had to go down an unknown road on their own. Fortunately no one was hurt and all four of them were back in civilization after only 11 days. The story about the waterfall drew the attention of journalists and geologists.
In 1949, an expedition was assembled that armed themselves with maps and axes to wade through the lianas of the jungle. Upon arrival, their amazement and surprise was boundless: as it turned out, the new waterfall was as much as 20 times higher than the previously known Niagara Falls. After the expedition, they gave an exact description of the waterfall, determined its height, and named it after the pilot – the last name Angel in Spanish reads Angel.
How to get to the waterfall
There are 5 regular flights to Canaima from Ciudad Bolívar, Porlamar, Caracas and Puerto Ordaz. These are not government flights, but commercial flights with small planes. Flights range from $110 to $300 per person. More information can be found here.
From Canaima, you can still get there by canoe on the Churún River.
