Canaima, Venezeula
MALARKEY
Jo & Trevor Bush
Sun 16 Sep 2007 07:18
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No trip to Venezuela is complete without a visit to
Canaima and Angel Falls.
Angel Falls is the highest water fall in the
world plunging some 3200 feet into 'Devils Canyon'. It is sited in the
Canaima National Park which is essentially 'Lost World' type of territory. It
is mainly jungle, flat topped plateaus and deep canyons, the very sort of
place you might find a dinosaur and Doug McClure making a dodgy movie.
Its remote location makes the trip that more appealing. In order to get there,
one needs to travel by road to Ciudad Bolivar, take a sad excuse for a plane to
Canaima, an even sadder excuse for a boat to the Angel Falls base camp deep
in the jungle and then hike a few miles through jungle and fast flowing rivers
to the falls.
   It all sounds quite exciting doesn't it? not one of
our normal boring old blogs..... well in fact it was and now that I have your
attention I shall continue.
The bus trip to Ciudad Bolivar was as expected,
running late and packed. But the city was quite attractive, particularly the
Orinoco River water front.
   Well there it was.... the Orinoco, the river you
read and hear about but not actually expect to see. It looked pretty much
like any other large river to us. It was flowing pretty fast but that was not
surprising as it is the rainy season here and when I say rain I mean rain, by
the bucket load.
We stopped overnight in a hotel near by the airport
and caught a plane the following morning. I use the word plane loosely. It was
more like a microlight with doors and I don't think it had seen much in the way
of maintenance for many a decade. The so called pilot was 1 part taxi driver and
3 parts cowboy. He didn't even check to see if the doors were shut and our seat
belts fastened before we were off. We jerked and rattled down the runway and
finally got airborne despite the hefty cargo. We were pleased to see that the
pilot had filled the tanks with fuel before leaving.This was good news 'cos
the onboard GPS navigation system packed up soon after take off and we
might have to fly around a bit before we find the next landing spot, not that
the pilot seemed too bothered, only occasionally looking up from reading his
newspaper! Fortunately we didn't need the extra fuel because the pilot had a
spare hand held GPS in his pocket! Cripes what had we let ourselves in
for?
   We felt a little more comfortable with the
flight in the knowledge that Duncan, an ex British fighter pilot, was
sitting in the passenger seat keeping an eye on things (note the hand held GPS
on the dash board). The views from the plane windows were absolutely
stunning and well worth the anx..... we really were flying into the land
that time forgot. The airport in Canaima was almost proof of this. We half
expected a herd of local beasties to tramp across the runway on landing
and the terminal building looked more like an Indian Chiefs hut. But
hey, this was all part of the fun.
The camp in Canaima village was only a short walk
away and it did not disappoint.
   The rooms were basic and clean but the view was
something special. The roar of the nearby waterfalls drowned out the sound of
the mosquito's and toucans were keeping an eye on things from the
bushes.
We dumped our luggage in our room and headed
down to the river to take our next unusual mode of
transport......a motorised dug out canoe driven by one of the local
indigenous Indians. We figured he was more used to casually paddling his own
canoe rather than driving our boat up river at about 20
knots. But he got us there ok after about 4 hours of negotiating rapids,
rocks and fallen trees. We were a tad wet and with a very sore
arse but the experience was not to be missed. But we weren't there yet. We
were ceremoniously dumped on an island in the middle of a fast flowing river and
we were instructed to walk for an hour across the river and up through the
jungle to the Angel Falls vantage point. It turned out to be quite a hike and it
proved a bit much for a couple of French tourists. Of course Jo & I had
no problems.... being super fit and with the sure footedness of a mountain
goat, we strolled it!
   The falls were quite spectacular. The water fell so
far that it vaporised and turned into mist. I don't have any water volume
details save to say it is a lot especially this time of year.
After making the most of the photo opportunity we
climbed back down to the canoe and was taken to the falls base camp. It was
nearly dark by then and negotiating food, copious amounts of grog and then a
hammock by candle light was interesting to say the least.
   The view from our hammocks of the Angel Falls in
the morning was a bit special. And despite their appearance, the hammocks were
very comfortable. Of course we find sleeping pretty easy anywhere after mucho
vino & rum all washed down with tasty barbecued chicken.
We even got to walk under one of the smaller falls.
A very moist experience, again not to be missed. It reminded me of a scene
in the 'Last of the Mohicans' film where the main characters where hiding under
a water fall. I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't the same one.
So that was the sight seeing bit over and
only the travelling back to Puerto La Cruz to be done. I was not particularly
looking forward to flight back. I was hoping it was not going to be the same
pilot and more importantly not the same plane. But it wasn't my lucky day.....
for two reasons. Firstly, yes it was the same plane & the same cowboy taboot
but secondly he decided to fly off to another village to fetch some other people
leaving us stranded at the airport for 3 hours. We figured that situation was
pretty much par for the course in Venezuela and did the only thing one can do in
these situations and hit the bar for some much needed Dutch courage. The flight
back seemed quite uneventful after a couple of beers despite his near
barrel roll over the falls immediately after take off. Oh & by the way, it
goes without saying, that his nav system was still out of order.
All in all, a damn fine 4 day adventure all for the
Princely sum of $300 ........money well spent me thinks.
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