Trek
Beez Neez now Chy Whella
Big Bear and Pepe Millard
Sun 11 Oct 2009 19:26
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Our Trek to finally stand
beneath The Angel Falls
 The first early morning shot of The Angel Falls, that is, after
I had been flipped out of my hammock by Connie.
 Ever changing light
 Within
minutes the early morning sun caught the mist and made a
rainbow.
   While the boys were preparing a cooked
breakfast, I had chance to see these chaps
sunbathing
   Bear as pathfinder. We had to watch our step
on these ankle biting roots and we saw some
fascinating shapes and colours.
As soon as we had finished our breakfast it
was time to board the canoe, this time only to cross to the other side, this
still required skill as the current spun us all over the place. We knew we had
about an hour and a half hike ahead of us toward Auyun Tepuy ( Evil Mountain ),
the home of the Angel Falls. The trail is well marked due to heavy usage. It was
easy going for the first half but the second half was really quite steep up to
the Mirador Laime viewpoint at an elevation of two thousand, three hundred
feet. The Falls look breathtaking from here and you can get a perfect shot with
trees to frame her.
   After
leaving the viewing point it was a very steep climb down to the pool at the bottom of the falls
To
us Angel Falls is the Eighth Wonder of World. It's Venezuela's most
touted tourist attraction, and rightly so. The falls plunge for a near free-fall
kilometre, some twenty Niagaras piled atop one another. The falls cascade from a
canyon which prises open the heart-shaped Auyan mountain. Auyan, the largest of
the unique mesas of the ancient Guayana Shield, rises 8,233 ft at the
north-eastern edge of Canaima National Park, the jewel in Venezuela's crown
of national parks.
   Needless
to say, Pat was in charge of the de-griming process,
supervising Leona and me
   Sadly all
too soon it was time to head back. The initial steep bit back to the viewpoint
was the only tough bit, the rest was all downhill. On the way I took this
picture of one of the world's smallest orchids, right
next to a clump of tiny carnivorous plants, like tiny weenie Venus fly-traps. We
crossed a dry river bed with enormous stones, Bear
looks diddy on the other side. We caught up with the speedy ones to find Betty having a little rest.
   The rest stop we found Betty in made for a nice picture. Then
it was time to cross the river back to Falls Camp, Pat
decided to swim over. Bear and Anne re-packing
for the umpteenth time, we ate a wonderful lunch of Spaghetti Bolognese and as
the river had dropped a little we walked to the next camp to meet our
boat
 As we
waited for the boys to do a quick outboard check we had a chance to watch a
regional meeting of butterflies enjoying their lunch
break in the sun
 Back in
the boat for our trip back to base
camp
 Stunning
ALL IN ALL WORTH EVERY MINUTE OF THE FOUR DAYS IT TOOK TO GET
HERE, BY FERRY, BUS, FLIGHT, CANOE AND FOOT.
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