Angel Falls, Venezuela

At the beginning of October 2007, the crews from Dreamtime and Paradise headed out by bus to Ciudad Bolivar in preparation for our flight to Canaima and subsequent trip to Angel Falls and the Gran Sabana.  It was a wonderful trip, timed just right, just after rainy season.  That meant the rivers and falls had plenty of water but we shouldn't be subject to being rained on quite so much as might have been the case a month earlier.  After a fun hop down to Canaima, located south and east of Puerto La Cruz, we disembarked and prepared for the next step, heading up river to the base camp for the hike up to the Falls in the morning.  This entailed meeting the rest of our group and hopping into dugout canoes for the motor upstream.

Arriving at Canaima

Taking dugout "canoes" up river to base camp

Our group was made up of the 4 of us, a couple from Sweden, a brother and sister from Portugal and our guide Tony.  The scenery going up river was fantastic, the river glassy and the tepui's (mesa's) readily visible.

Heading up river - ready to get wet?

Stopped off for a swim and lunch where we ran into other groups headed up to the falls.  Manuela poses and I take a shot with her camera - many of these photos were taken with her spiffy, waterproof digital camera - thanks Manuela.  Along the way to the base camp we had to traverse several rapids and we all pretty much got soaked, but it was fun.  A local Peymon indian was our lookout at the front of the canoe, to help direct our path and to keep a lookout for other river traffic.  The guys, wet but undaunted, and to the right a shot of the Devil's Fork.

Heading for more  whitewater

The Devil's Fork

Our group

Angel Falls from base camp

The base camp was very rustic - meaning we hung up our hammocks and our wet clothes, had a nap then watched the camp crew take chicken halves and spit them on stakes, then stick the stakes in the ground around the fire.  Wow, worked great, no mess.  Seriously, the food was really quite good and much appreciated.  We shared our camp (and dinner) with a late arriving group - 14 Russians.  Very interesting people, many spoke quite good English, and the women were all gorgeous... great cheekbones..

This shot taken at the Angel Falls overlook

Sid takes a nap

The next morning we got an early start and hiked up to the Angel Falls overlook.  What an awesome sight.  The overlook isn't at the top, but is at a perfect height to see everything.  Afterwards, we went back to camp, changed clothes, packed-up and ate lunch - busy, busy.  We went back down river to the Canaima lagoon and stayed at the base camp across from Hacha falls.  The next day we hiked up and walked behind Sapo (Frog) Falls, named after the cute yellow and black frog.  Wow, what a torrent of water!  They'd never let you do this in the USA.

Canaima Lagoon - Hacha Falls

Wlaking behind Sapo Falls

Sapo Falls - the other side

Beautiful native orchids growing around Sapo Falls