Blogs from Canaima National Park, Guayana, Venezuela, South America - page 4

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We woke up today at 630 to jump into the boat in the dark and head up the river to the second camp....sitting in the freezing morning in a cramped boat and getting wet is really not fun... once we reached the camp we had a quick breakfast, played some football and then started the 1.5 hour walk to see the angel falls It began with wading across a little river, with the slippery red rocks that seem to be everywhere..i almost slipped and dropped my camera more times than i can remember, and it was only my stick which saved me...apparently i look like an old man with it, but hey it works! the walk through the jungle was quite intense, especially when it started rising and rising...because of how thick the jungle was you ... read more
our boat
the gang
first glimpse of the falls


No journey to Venezuela is complete without visiting Angel Falls, the highest waterfall in the world (much in the same way that no trip to England is complete without trying Fish´n´Chips, the greasiest meal in the world). For some reason I thought it would be easy to get to. Park at the side of the road, walk for half an hour and there it is, showing off with it´s big stream of water. But no, it´s a right pain in the arse to get to. To get there you need to take a bus, a flight, followed by a train ride, then take an amphibious vehilce to the bottom of a mountain, which you ascend by cable car, then travel through the mountain on an old mining cart, then hike down for two days and finally ... read more
under the falls
Team Salmon
cruising


To get to Angel Falls is a tricky business. Unless you have a machete and a lot of time on your hands you have to fly in and the cheapest method is to go via Ciudad Bolivar (oh yes Bolivar got a town named after him too) a 10 hour bus trip from Caracas. So it was with little sadness that I left my grotty hostel in Caracas (though I had been having a nice chat with two danish girls under a mango tree on the balcony there when a mango fell down on the table - we promptly ate it!). I dared the metro at 8pm to the Rodovias bus terminal, despite being advised to get a taxi, and was beginning to regret that when I realised the last 300m to the terminal were ... read more
Behind El Sapo falls
A tepui
Whizzing towards the falls on the first day


Hello everyone. Once again i will start this with a sincere apology concerning my grammar. My mum correctly pointed out that i twice used the word "here" instead of "hear". What can i say, it was a free education. As the title suggests i have been away from technology so unable to tell you about the last 3 days which despite being extremely expensive were worth every cent. Myself and Torsten (my German sidekick for the last few days and next few) arrived at Ciudad Bolivar´s tiny airport at 8am, bleary-eyed and really hoping that the $250 we had just parted with was going to be worthwhile. It nearly was from the moment we boarded our plane....a six-seater Cessna. As the engine started and the propellor at the front began whirring it felt like i ... read more
RECOVERED
RECOVERED
RECOVERED


After we left Merida we first went north for a day. We will tell more about that in a later entry on the blogg. After that we went to a town called Ciudad Bolivar and from there we took a tour to Canaima and the Angel Falls. Canaima is a small settlement that attracts thousands of tourists every year since it is the major starting point for people who want to visit the famous Angel Falls. We have looked forward to visit the Angel Falls for several months. We therefor decided to visit them on a long tour taking three days rather than a shorter one. From Ciudad Bolivar we had to fly to Canaima, since there are no roads leading there. The flights to and from Canaima are a somewhat different from most flights we ... read more
Unusual flight
View from the plane
View from the plane

South America » Venezuela » Guayana » Canaima National Park January 29th 2007

The pics for this entry are from our amazing time in Canaima National Park, where we spent four days (Jan 24-28) and visited Salto Ángel (Angel´s Fall), the highest waterfall in the world. We slept in hammocks in a beautiful camp set in front of three water falls, of course, smaller than Salto Ángel. To arrive to Salto Ángel, we took a boat ride through the Carrao and Churm rivers, with 7 other tourists (Venezuelans, a gringo from San Francisco, two Argentinian girls, and an Australian dude), plus a guide and boat drivers. The ride lasted four hours and a half, which included an hour stop for lunch and to enjoy an amazing waterfall on the way to the big one. This area is called "El Pozo de la Felicidad" (Happiness Well), and it gave us ... read more


I was born in Caracas, Venezuela so going to see Angel Falls has always been a dream of mine. I went to Canaima with my family in the summer of 2003 on a package tour. We took a small plane from Ciudad Bolivar to Kavak. Getting off the noisy plane to the stunning silence of Kavak was a surreal experience. Kavak is a camp that sits at the base of Auyentepui. I was happy just sitting and watching the clouds swirl around the top of the cliff. Definitely bring lots of mosquito repellent if you ever come here though! Our guides took us on a walk and we waded through a cave to a waterfall. This was really an amazing experience for my family and I and it really felt like the vacation had arrived. The ... read more
Tepui in Storm
Auyentepui
Dad, Sis and I at lunch stop

South America » Venezuela » Guayana » Canaima National Park November 20th 2005

Ooops its been a while since we updated the blog. Not that we’ve been having too much fun to write, quite the opposite we’ve been working hard taking Spanish language lessons in Argentina. Anyway where were we? Oh yes, just about to set out on our expedition to Angel Falls. We were met at Caracas airport by Ben of Osprey Expeditions who whisked us to the bus terminal for our overnight bus to Cuidad Bolivar. This was to be Bonny and Steve´s first overnighter and we were really lucky with the bus company “Rodavia” as the bus though freeeeeeezing cold was mercifully quiet and comfortable. This fact was not lost on us when we pulled into a service station in the early hours closely followed by a bus full of kids that was rocking on its ... read more
at angel falls
S+C at angel falls
hammock view of table mountain

South America » Venezuela » Guayana » Canaima National Park October 23rd 2005

A bit of a backdated issue this time as I´m really in Manaus...yes, on the real Amazon...(in fact its not on the Amazon but thats another story!)but more of that later! Where to begin?...and this will be abbreviated as its exy here and uncomfortable...but for you, hey, gotta do it. Got the bikes 20,000 km service in Caracas...Andrès, our man in BMW organised everything fantastically, new tyres courtesy of Herr Florian at Continental, Germany...the BMW guys did the fuel filters as well so hopefully that sorted my probs.....some cockup communications notwithstanding we were led out of Caracas by the beautiful and so charming Zulya, ex-diplomat wife, girlfriend of the BMW mechanic who was formerly a cop!..it can´t get any better than this...down the autopista, stop for gas, abso torrential downpour, makes Darwin tropical storms look like ... read more


Well we left you last as we had just arrived in Santa Elena de Uairen. Santa Elena is an indigenous (Indian) town not far from the border with Brasil. When you first enter the town it doesnt look much and there are lots of raw Diamond and Gold trading shops and a few brothels but once you scratch the surface you find its a really friendly place. The population is mainly local Indian people but with a large influx of peope at the weekends who work in the nearby Gold and Diamond mines. There are ridiculous ques at the 2 local petrol stations as people from Brasil cross over the border and que all day and night to take advantage of the petrol at 70 bolivares a litre. We spent two nights in Santa Elena catching ... read more
The Wall
Sheffield Wednesday top of the table
Tepuy Kukenan




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