Venezuela is an amazing country! After all, it was here that the world-famous Hugo Chavez lived and ruled, and there are incredibly low prices for gasoline. The proof of this is the opportunity to fill a whole tank of a Jeep car for just a hundred rubles. But that's not all. Only in Venezuela there is a huge number of tepui - these are mountains with truncated peaks, and therefore their appearance is rather unusual and strange. People call them table mountains. This name is probably due to the fact that the objects are flat, like tables. And now draw a picture for yourself: in the impenetrable jungle here and there rocks are piled up, reaching one kilometer in height. Their peaks are flat, they have sheer vertical walls. Therefore, even after small rainfall, water accumulates there, and then flows down in numerous waterfalls. And one of them is the highest Angel Falls.
Angel Falls in numbers
This is the highest free-falling waterfall on Earth. His appearance is truly amazing! Powerful jets of water fall down and are buried in clouds of water dust and fog. Angel Falls is 978 meters high. Although some sources say a little morefigure - 1059 meters. And the height of the fall of Angel Falls is 807 meters. The tallest building on the planet is the Computer Network Tower. So, our waterfall is almost twice as high as this creation of human hands. And three times higher than the Eiffel Tower. They say that Niagara Falls can boast of its parameters. But we will disappoint those who believe in it. After all, Angel is 20 times taller than his "brother"! In 1949, an expedition from the National Geographic Society determined the official height of Venezuela's main landmark.
The coordinates of Angel - a waterfall that has no equal in the whole world - can be indicated by the following numbers: latitude - 5 ° 58'03 "N, or 5.9675, and longitude - 62 ° 32'08" W. etc., or 62.535556. And every second, Angel passes three hundred cubic meters of water through himself, which the Churun River delivers.
The story of the opening of the waterfall
Angel Falls was discovered relatively recently. Not even a hundred years have passed since then. It all happened quite by accident, and this story is quite interesting. In the 1930s, a diamond rush broke out in Venezuela. Hundreds of fans of easy money and those who simply had nothing to do rushed into the impenetrable and dense jungle. A pilot from America, James Angel, bought a small sports-type aircraft and headed for the Auyan-Tepui massif - this is just not far from the place where the Angel Falls hid from people's eyes for many centuries …
More valuable than diamonds
The peaks of the mesas in that area are often closedclouds. But Angel was lucky: he flew in clear weather. And he was the first lucky to see a kilometer-long water vertical. Angel did not manage to find diamonds, but he brought world fame to the waterfall. The gold digger's plane crashed, and only a miracle saved the pilot. James landed in the very spot chosen by the famous Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to describe the events in The Lost World.
Angel traveled 11 days to civilization. And so, when he managed to find the first post office he came across, he informed the American National Geographic Society about the location of Angel Falls. He described his discovery and the find was named after him. "But why Angel?" the reader will ask. And all because Angel in Spanish is read as Angel.
A little about the surrounding area
Tourists would probably like to find out more about where Angel Falls is located. And he settled down, as mentioned above, in Venezuela, in the highlands, which is called Guyana. This is on the Carrao River, which is one of the tributaries of the Orinoco. From the same Spanish language Angel is translated as "angel".
Ever since ancient times, the name of Churun-Meru has been attached to the attraction. So it was called by the Indian tribes living in this area. The plateau from which the waterfall falls is called Auyan-Tepui, which means "mountain of the devil." This name was given because the plateau is constantly shrouded in thick fog. Where the Angel Falls is located, they grow everywheretropical forests, so there are no special roads to it. Thus, you can get here either by air or by water.
National Park and travel to it
Angel is part of the National Park of Venezuela - Canaima. Hundreds of excursions are organized annually to this miracle of nature. But since the place is rather inaccessible, people prefer air walks. If you decide to get to Angel by the river, then you can do this as follows: first you have to sail on a motor canoe to the village of Canaima, and then walk about two or three kilometers on foot. A dirt road leads to Canaima, and in the neighborhood, the local authorities have equipped a small airport that provides services to guests and tourists. Travelers can take advantage of shops, bars and comfortable hotels. The waterfall, together with the surrounding areas, has managed to preserve the charm of the wilderness. If you are lucky, then during the walk you can see local animals that went to the watering place. Jaguars, three-toed sloths, anteaters, giant otters and other interesting fauna live in the park jungle.
The height of the Angel Falls provides an opportunity to admire from the observation deck and the nearby picturesque lagoon, which has the same name as the park. Powerful streams of water rush down here from the ledges around.
Who and why renamed the waterfall
In 2009, the then PresidentVenezuelan Hugo Chavez said that the Angel Falls should be renamed Kerepakupai Meru. True, the Churun-Meru variant was first considered. But one of the daughters of the ruler remembered that a waterfall with that name already exists in this area. Plus it's pretty small. Then Hugo Chavez decided to opt for Kerepakupai Meru after all. The leader explained his action by the fact that the attraction should not bear the name of an American, since long before the discovery the waterfall was located on the territory of Venezuela and belonged only to it.
Interesting about the waterfall
Where Angel Falls is located, many different plants grow. The third part of them is not found anywhere else on the planet. The waterfall itself is fed by the waters of the rains, so when the dry season comes, it turns into a thin trickle. When it rains again, the attraction takes on the appearance of a powerful, immense and so beautiful giant.
A Few Things Few People Know About
It is believed that the first person from Europe who saw Angel was Ernest Sánchez La Cruz. The attraction opened to his eyes in 1910. There is also evidence that even earlier this giant was noticed by the Spanish conquistadors and Catholic missionary monks. But still, James Angel brought fame to the miracle of nature. Later, the coordinates of the Angel (waterfall) were established and its height was determined.
James Angel's broken plane lay on top of a mountain for 33 years. In 1970, the remains of the car were removed from the tepui. Herrestored, and today the plane is at the entrance to the city airport of Ciudad Bolívar. After the death of James (1960), his ashes were scattered over the highest waterfall on Earth, which was named after the pilot. It was Angel's last wish.
Waterfall is a bewitching sight, let the traveler see for himself by seeing this miracle of nature with his own eyes.
