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Angel Facts

Big Bear and Pepe Millard

Sun 11 Oct 2009 22:52

Angel Falls Facts about Her

The Angel Falls is one of Venezuela's top tourist attractions, but even today a trip to the falls is not a simple affair. The falls are located in an isolated rain forest region of Venezuela, and a flight from Caracas or Ciudad Bolivar is required to reach Canaima camp, the starting point for river trips to the base of the falls.

It is also possible to purchase a package that includes an aerial flyby of the falls, by helicopter ride $1800 US an hour or fifty pounds by Cessna for twenty minutes. The falls cannot be seen on cloudy days, and there is no guarantee visitors will see them.

River trips generally take place from June to December, when the rivers are deep enough for the wooden curiaras used by the Pemon Indian guides. During the dry season (December to March) there is less water than is seen in some photos, but it is also more likely that the top will not be clouded.

Angel Falls (Spanish: Salto Angel) is the world's highest waterfall, with a height of three thousand, two hundred and twelve feet and a clear drop of two thousand, six hundred and forty seven feet. It is located in the Cainama Nation Park, in the Gran Sabana region of Bolivar State.

The height of the falls is so great that before getting anywhere near the ground, the water is atomized by the strong winds and turned into mist. The mist can be felt a mile away. The base of the falls feeds into the Kerep River (alternatively known as the Rio Gauya) which flows into the Churun River, a tributary of the Carrao River.

In the indigenous Pemon language Angel Falls is called Kerepakupai meru-meaning "waterfall of the deepest place". The falls are sometimes referred to as Churun-meru, an error, since that name corresponds to another waterfall in the Park. Churun in Pemon means thunder.

The fictional "Paradise Falls" in the 2009 Pixar film Up was inspired by Angel Falls. The production staff toured this area of Venezuela prior to the making of the film.

The first recorded person to reach the river that feeds the falls was Latvian explorer Aleksandrs Laime, also known as Alejandro Laime to the native Pemon tribe. He made the ascent of Auyan-tepui in 1955. He also reached Angel's plane on the same trip, 18 years after the crash landing. He gave the river feeding the falls the name Gauja after a river in Latvia, but the Pemon-given name of the river, Kerep, is still widely used.

Laime also was the first to clear a trail that leads from the Churun river to the base of the falls. On the way, there is a viewpoint commonly used to capture the falls in photographs. It is named "Mirador Laime" ("Laime's Viewpoint" in Spanish) in his honour. This trail is used now mostly for tourists, to lead them from the Isla Raton camp to the small clearing.

The official height of the falls was determined by a National Geographic Society survey carried out by American journalist Ruth Robertson in 1949.

A book by David Nott, Angels Four, chronicles the first successful climb up the face of Auyantepui to the top of the falls.