Canima and Angel Falls
Moon Song
Laura & Alan Grayson
Tue 4 Dec 2007 13:30
Late in Nov we decided a trip to Angel Falls was
required. This is easily organized thru a couple of places in the marina. We
chose Jaime as he was recommended by friends of ours. He is good he only needs
24hrs notice which is good for us as decision making is not our strong suite.
The trip is 3 nights and 4 days so we packed a bag and at 8.20am the next day we
were off to the bus station to catch the bus to Cuidad Bolivar. 5 hrs later we
were there where we met up with the local agent Bladimir who escorted us to the
hotel and let us know what there was to do for the rest of the day. Cuidad
Bolivar is situated on the south Bank of the Orinoco river. This river is huge.
We watched a towboat push 25 barges upstream and it hardly took up much of the
river. We had a bit of a look around the old part of town, saw a statue of Simon
Bolivar the conqueror of Venezuela, State Government buildings then took a walk
along the river front. Seems to be the place where all the young kids hang out
and drink Cacique Rum direct from the bottle. Back to the hotel at sunset for
happy hour and a pleasant nights sleep.
Next morning off to the airport for a flight to
Canima. Hopped in a little 6 seat Cessna for the 1 hr flight to Canima, nice
flight had a cute traveling companion, the
monkey was good as well. Pretty plain countryside for a will till we came across
a big lake. I had to assume it was dammed for power but after that the Tepui's
(Flat topped Mountains) started to show up along with a lot of bush. We followed
the river for a while until we finally came into view of Canima and the falls
there. It was spectacular. A lot of water comes down that river. After settling into the camp we took a walk to the beach. This
was as good a beach as we have come across in our tours around the Caribbean and
yet it is 600 miles from the nearest ocean and I couldn't figure out the palm
trees in the lake but don't they look good. This was really an idyllic setting
there was even kids playing around the palm trees and Indian woman washing
clothes on the bank. It was a good walk along the beach to the base of the falls
which really thunder. Then it was back to the camp for lunch where we met Jorge
really our life saver. He is a Venezuelan who is living in New York and came
back for his sisters wedding. Jorge is a big guy and lunch while good was not
quite big enough and since I had been traveling and had not eaten a lot we were
both hungry campers. Well Jorge speaks Spanish... well like the local he is and
he manages to rustle up 2 more meals for us. This was a procedure that he
managed to do every meal so from then on I was one fat dumb and happy hombre.
After lunch it was onto a local pirogue for a trip across the lake to explore
the falls from close up. Got some great photos of the falls from the boat. We
then had a 1/2 hrs walk to Sapo falls where we were able to walk behind the
falls. Fantastic. Kinda
chilly behind the falls but it was great fun we
then had to walk to the top of the falls what a great view from there. Next it
was off to the main falls which we also could get behind. These ones really
thundered and you couldn't hear yourself speak. But it was really cool infact so
cool we didn't hang around to long it was back out into the sun to warm my
chilly buns. We then had a bit of a walk back to lake to hop back into the boat
to head back to the camp for the compulsory happy hr. Well we had to walk to the
store for a 6 pack. Dinner time came along and Jorge did his magic and 2 meals
showed up, luckily we did enough walking to encourage a healthy appetite. Laura
and I had a room to ourselves which was quite nice with 3 beds in it as well as
its own bathroom. We felt quite privileged.Breakfast arrived with its by now
usual 2 helpings. Starting to think I'm a bit of a fat boy and the dirty looks
were starting to come from the group of Dutchmen who were at the camp at the
same time. Bad luck for them. This is the big day and we were heading up the
river on the local dugout boats for a 4hr trip to Angel Falls. Once again good
info from our friends helped us out as we brought boat cushions to sit on. Those
dirty looks from the Dutchmen kept on getting worse as the day went on. The trip
up the river was better than all the fun park rides I have been on. As the
river got smaller the rapids got bigger and the guys driving just kept on going.
Jet boat drivers could learn a thing or two from these guys. They had 48hp
outboards on them and when it got to shallow they just tilted those engines up
and we drifted until it got deep enough. Kind of a challenge going up stream but
it was OK they just had to go really fast. The
left picture was our first view of Angels Falls and you had to crank
the neck to see it. Really spectacular seeing it
come out of the mountains like that. We had about an hrs walk from where we
got dropped off. A really great walk thru the Venezuelan jungle.
Unfortunately everyone wanted to walk to fast for us bimblers and they left us
behind. Anyway the view once we got there was fantastic. An
hrs walk back thru the jungle and we arrived at the base camp. A night in
hammocks at the base of Angel falls, can't get much better than that now can
you. It was a fairly basic camp but so long as there was food ( Thanks Jorge)
and hot drinks we were happy campers. It started to rain just after we made it
to the camp which actually gave a bit of atmosphere and the next day the
mountains were wrapped in a layer of clouds which made the view so different
from the day before when it was cloudless. Quick trip down the river scooting
over the rapids this time really flying no matter how deep it was, even got
stuck once and it was all hands, well all men out of the boat to give it a good
push. Once back at Canima it was basically straight onto the plane back to
Cuidad Bolivar. From there it was straight into a Por Puesto. A private
car/Taxi who took us all the way back to the marina, a 3 1/2 hr drive for $20
USD. And what a drive it was. He tried his hardest to keep it at 160 km/h which
he managed for quite a lot of the time but at least he was safe and didn't try
too many close passing maneuvers. Back to the Marina by 8 o'clock. Our kitty was
very glad to see us and showed her appreciation of us leaving her by giving both
of us a couple of love bites. No worries she came around. And that my
friends is the end of a great trip.
|