Jimmy Angel
American bush-pilot who first discovered the highest waterfalls in the world.
The
highest waterfall in the world plunges down from the western flank of a gorge in
the middle of the Auyán-tepui. With a total height of 979m, and free fall of
807m, it is more than 15 times higher than Niagara.
The
water that leaves the summit takes fourteen seconds to reach the bottom,
although in the dry season much of that water is blown away in a fine mist.
Although the local Indians had known of its existence for thousands of years,
and Sir Walter Raleigh had probably heard of it, the earliest recorded sighting
by a white man was in 1910, by Venezuelan explorer Ernesto Sánchez La Cruz.
However the name comes from the American bush-pilot Jimmy Angel,
who first flew over the area in 1921. He flew in from Panama, where he had been
hired by an old prospector (for $5,000) to fly to and land on the summit of Auyán-tepui,
where they allegedly found a stream, and panned considerable quantities of gold.
The prospector, having sold his haul for $27,000, subsequently died, and it was
not until 1935 that Angel returned, and found the falls that now bear his name.
Two years later, in 1937, he attempted a landing, but despite a successful
touchdown the aircraft (the Rio Caroní) nose-dived when it hit soft ground at
the end of its landing run and Angel, his wife Marie and his companions (Gustavo
Heny and his gardener!) had to walk out. Luckily Heny had previously climbed the
tepui, and so was able to guide the party down the south flank, a trip that took
them 11 days.
The
plane remained there until 1970, when it was taken out by helicopter and can be
seen today outside the airport terminal at Ciudad Bolívar.