Angel Falls

For the waterfall in Maine, see Angel Falls (Maine).

Angel Falls Salto Ángel Kerepakupai merú
Angel Falls from Isla Ratón
Location	Auyantepui, Canaima National Park, Venezuela
Type	Plunge
Total height	979 m / 3,212 ft
Number of drops	2
Longest drop	807 m / 2,647 ft
World height ranking	1

Angel Falls or Kerepakupai merú (which means "waterfall of the deepest place", in Pemon language, or: "Parakupa-vena", which means "the fall from the highest point"; Spanish: Salto Ángel) is the world's highest waterfall, with a height of 979 m (3,212 ft) and a plunge of 807 m (2,647 ft). The waterfall drops over the edge of the Auyantepui mountain in the Canaima National Park (Spanish: Parque Nacional Canaima), a UNESCO World Heritage site in the Gran Sabana region of Bolívar State, Venezuela.

The height of the falls is so great that before getting anywhere near the ground, the water is atomized by the strong winds and turned into mist. The mist can be felt a mile away. The base of the falls feeds into the Kerep River (alternatively known as the Río Gauya), which flows into the Churun River, a tributary of the Carrao River.

The height figure 3,212 feet (979 m) mostly consists of the main plunge but also includes about 0.25 miles (400 m) of shallowly sloped cascades and rapids below the drop and a 100-foot (30 m) high plunge downstream of the talus rapids. While the main plunge is undoubtedly the highest single drop in the world, including the lower cascades somewhat stretches the criteria for the measurement of waterfalls. Some other waterfalls, such as Yosemite Falls in North America, also include intermediary cascades in their height figures, but, in the case of Yosemite Falls, the middle cascades are much steeper and have less run than those of Angel Falls.

Name

Angel Falls during the dry season

In the indigenous Pemon language Kerepakupai merú means 'waterfall of the deepest place'. The falls are sometimes referred to as Churún-merú, an error, since that name corresponds to another waterfall in the Canaima National Park. Churún in the Pemon language means "thunder".

The waterfall was known for most of the twentieth century by the named 'Angel Falls' after Jimmie Angel, an American aviator who was the first to fly over the falls in a plane. President Hugo Chávez announced his intention to change the name to "Kerepakupai Merú" in 2009, on the grounds that the nation's most famous landmark should bear an indigenous name. Explaining the name change, President Hugo Chavez said, "This is ours, long before Angel ever arrived there...this is indigenous property."However on December 23rd, President Chávez clarified that he will not decree the change of name, but only was defending the use of Kerepakupai merú.

Exploration

Sir Walter Raleigh described what was possibly a tepuy (table top mountain), and he is sometimes said to have discovered the Angel Falls, but these claims are considered far-fetched. They were spotted in 1912 by the Venezuelan explorer Ernesto Sánchez La Cruz, but he did not publicize his discovery. They were not known to the outside world until American aviator Jimmie Angel flew over them on 16 November 1933 on a flight while he was searching for a valuable ore bed.

Returning on October 9, 1937, Angel tried to land his Flamingo monoplane El Río Caroní atop Auyan-tepui, but the plane was damaged when the wheels sank into the marshy ground, and he and his three companions, including his wife Marie, were forced to descend the tepui on foot. It took them 11 days to make their way back to civilization, but news of their adventure spread, and the waterfall was named Angel Falls in his honor.

Angel's plane

Angel's plane remained on top of the tepuy for 33 years before being lifted out by helicopter. It was restored at the Aviation Museum in Maracay and now sits outdoors on the front of the airport at Ciudad Bolívar.

The first recorded person to reach the river that feeds the falls was Latvian explorer Aleksandrs Laime, also known as Alejandro Laime to the native Pemon tribe. He made the ascent of Auyan-tepui in 1955. He also reached Angel's plane on the same trip, 18 years after the crash landing. He gave the river feeding the falls the name Gauja after a river in Latvia, but the Pemon-given name of the river, Kerep, is still widely used.

Laime also was the first to clear a trail that leads from the Churun River to the base of the falls. On the way, there is a viewpoint commonly used to capture the falls in photographs. It is named Mirador Laime ("Laime's Viewpoint" in Spanish) in his honor. This trail is used now mostly for tourists, to lead them from the Isla Ratón camp to the small clearing.

The official height of the falls was determined by a National Geographic Society survey carried out by American journalist Ruth Robertson in 1949.

A book by David Nott, Angels Four, chronicles the first successful climb up the face of Auyantepui to the top of the falls.

Tourism

Angel Falls (Kerepakupai merú) is one of Venezuela's top tourist attractions, but, even today, a trip to the falls is a complicated affair. The falls are located in an isolated jungle region of Venezuela, and a flight from Caracas or Ciudad Bolívar is required to reach Canaima camp, the starting point for river trips to the base of the falls. River trips generally take place from June to December, when the rivers are deep enough for the wooden curiaras used by the Pemon guides. During the dry season (December to March) there is less water seen than in the other months.

An alternative possibility is to purchase a package that includes an aerial flyby of the falls. However, since the falls cannot be seen on cloudy days, there is no guarantee visitors will see them from the air.

Pop culture references

Paradise Falls, featured in the animated Pixar film Up was inspired by Angel Falls (Kerepakupai merú).

External links

• "Angel Falls". World Waterfall Database.
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