|
Salta Angel!!!14 Dec 2007
|
|
We began our journey in this dinky plane (in the middle of...
We arrived in Cuidad Bolivar thinking we'd missed our tour (it was s'posed to leave at 8:30am, and we didn't arrive till 9am), but the very helpful man that we'd spoken to on the phone was there waiting for us, and whisked us off to the airport to catch our van to La Paragua. Once there, we caught a tiny 5-seater plane to Canaima (very exciting, and stunning scenery!!). That afternoon, we had a boat trip around the lagoon at Canaima to look at the waterfalls there, and then walked up to another (big and very powerful) fall, stripped down to swimming clothes, and walked behind it, which was very wet, a bit scary at times (we couldn't see where we were going 'cos the water spray was so strong), and incredible. Once we were thoroughly soaked through, we got back into our boat (a big canoe with an engine), and travelled up to our first camp on an island where two rivers meet. The next morning, our boat took us up into the 'Devil's canyon'. The river has frequent rapids, and the journey was a bit scary at times (especially when we hit the bank!), but we made it safely (if wet and a bit bruised!) to our second camp, and once we'd dropped off our things, we walked the hour up to the falls. We expected them to be high (obviously!), but otherwise the same as the many other falls coming off the tepuis (we'd seen the second highest, Kukenan, on our way to and from Roraima a couple of days before) - but Angel falls is breathtaking. Clouds swirled around it when we were first there, and the water seemed to turn into slow-motion mist - the powerful falls below the initial 807m drop showed just how much water was falling tho! It still feels pretty inaccessible, and the jungle surrounding it is untouched: it's beautiful, and magic, and hard to describe. Once we'd had some time to be awe-struck, our guide took us down to the pool at the base of the falls, and we climbed out onto the rocks to stand in the mist and look up at the top, and then Tara swam in the clear red-brown pool (Da thought it was a bit cold!!) - it's not every day that you get to swim at the base of the highest waterfall in the world!!! We walked back to our camp, and spent most of the afternoon sitting on the sun-warmed stones by the river, chatting, watching the falls (we could see them from the camp!) and the river, and feeling very very lucky. The next day, our boat took us back to Canaima (no crashes this time!). We walked round the lagoon to the village, and had time for a quick shower before leaving for our return flight. Our second plane was as tiny as the first, and Tara sat by the pilot for the return flight (which was great!) - he bumped the plane up and down to wake Da up when he fell asleep, and waggled it side to side to wave at another plane that passed (terrifying one of the guys flying with us!)! He also took us over the falls at the lagoon and the one we'd walked under so that we could take pictures of them - it was a very fun flight!
