Angel of the Jungle : Angel Falls

                I remember a long ago mountain trip when we hiked up a slope to see a waterfall deep in the woods. We stood at the base looking up. From somewhere unfathomably high, an endless cascade of water crashed and roared down the rocky mountain-face, bubbling and foaming over unseen outcroppings before smashing into the ground near our feet and rushing off into the forest in a frothy haste. In spite of the sizzling summer heat, a cool breeze endlessly flowed from the falls and brushed our bodies with a fine, clear mist. The plant life around us seemed, somehow, fresher and healthier than anywhere else.

                Deep in the heart of the Venezuelan jungle, stands another waterfall, a hundred times more magnificent than the one of my childhood memory. It starts atop a flat-topped mountain, or plateau, and hurls down a rugged cliff face for 3212 feet (979 meters). That’s nearly 20 times taller than the famous Niagara Falls!

                On a hot day, they say, the water begins to evaporate even before its long journey from the mountain top to the pool far below is finished. Toward the base of the falls, it condenses into a misty haze and vanishes. During the rainy season, the falls will split into two smaller falls, taking on yet another majestic appearance.

                These are Angel Falls, the highest falls known to exist on planet Earth. And, oh! They must be a sight to see in real life! And to think, they existed virtually undisturbed in the deep, deep jungle for so many millennia. Can you see them there, in the peace and quiet?
                That solitude officially ended one November day in 1933. It was on that day that a bush pilot named Jimmie Angel was soaring over the jungle looking for a river of gold, when he stumbled across the falls. There have been unsubstantiated claims that other Europeans, such as Sir Walter Raleigh, actually spotted the falls first, and the Natives of the area knew about the falls for a long time. But the first official European discovery has gone down in history as being that unexpected moment when Jimmie first laid eyes on the waterfall. That, of course, is why it’s called Angel Falls.

                It’s never quite been the same, since. Today there’s a full-fledged tourist operation going on there. You can hike to the base and look up, or you can take a helicopter ride - - and look down!! You can also, if you wish, travel up the river by motorized canoe and view it from the base as you bob about in the water. And, naturally, as is the nature of the beast, someone had to try to go up the hard way, just to show it could be done. It took nine days to ascend, I’ve read.

                Let us hope, with all that flurry of activity, that everyone is conscious of the potential effects of human presence, and we leave the falls as pure, beautiful and magnificent as Jimmie found them.

                And speaking of Jimmie, do you want to know how his story ended? Well, he didn’t exactly go home to a parade and a medal. In fact he went home to a great big helping of utter disbelief! No one would believe him that he had seen such a thing as a waterfall that impossibly huge. So, to prove his point, he took his wife and some friends out to find it again. He even landed his plane on the top of the mountain so they could get a better look. Sadly, that mountain top was not so much rugged and rocky as it was simply mucky, and there the plane remained, stuck fast, for thirty years.

                Meanwhile, Jimmie and party had no choice but to hike out of there on foot. This was a twelve day trial for them. But with so many witnesses and his own plane up there proving, undeniably, that he had found the place, it was impossible not to believe him now.

                Here are a couple of thoughts about Angel Falls:

·         Under some conditions, you can feel its spray more than half a mile away!

·         Although “Angel Falls” is a beautiful name, the natives had an equally poignant one. It was "Kerepakupai Vená", which means "waterfall of the deepest place".

Sometimes Mother Nature does her very best work when she’s all alone in the wilderness.
File:Salto del Angel-Canaima-Venezuela08.JPG
      
Photo by Poco a poco

                              

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