Day 97 - Canaima, Venezuela

TRAVELLING TO AND AROUND CANAIMA NATIONAL PARK (08/04/09)

Hardly able to contain our excitement the day of our Angel Falls trip had finally arrived. We arrived at the airport where we were given our hand written boarding pass!

We could see our plane but we had to wait for the other three passengers to arrive before we could take off. Adam was so excited - he has wanted to fly over the jungle in a five seater plane since he was about five years old.

There is no road access to the Canaima area so all supplies, such as eggs, have to be brought in by the tourist planes.

The plane was the height of 1980s technology.

Aerial view of Ciudad Bolivar.

On the one and a half hour flight we gradually left civilisation behind.

Eventually there were not even dirt tracks, just trees and water.

The dense rainforest, even from the height of the plane trees stretched as far as we could see.

Our first view of a tepuy, the local name for a table mountain. This is Nonoi Tepuy one of about 160 in Venezuela.

There were many incredible views from the plane.

Coming in to land we could see everything in greater detail.

We saw these amazing waterfalls - little did we know that our first nights accomodation was a 3 minute walk away from them.

With a couple of hours to kill we walked to Canaima Lagoon into which the waterfalls flow.

We were misinformed about the necessity of sandals for the first day of the trip where we would be getting very wet. Luckily Liz managed to find a friendly local lady who when asked pulled out a huge black bag full of all sizes and shapes. We purchased a pair each ready for our afternoon.

Liz´s were a delightful colour, Adams were less interesting but left in agony for several days afterwards.

Our first trip was on a boat accross the lagoon to get closer to the waterfalls.

The enormous Hacha Waterfall.

We were so happy that the sun was shining as we had heard that it normally rains. As it turned out we had been very lucky - it had only stopped raining the day before.

The next part of our adventure was a walk under the 60 metre high and 200 metre wide El Sapo waterfall. This was the only picture we got since further in we got completely drenched by the torrent of water gushing over our heads. Luckily our guide had a waterproof bag for our cameras.

The other side of El Sapo. As you can imagine with this much water the noise was deafening.

The top of the falls.

Overwhelmed by the incredible landscape.

We were shocked when our guide waded into the water and crossed about a third of the way. We were even more shocked when he told us to follow him and it was quite a struggle walking knee deep in such fast flowing water.

About as happy as Adam has ever been. Note the rainbow in the waterfall and the Tepuy in the background.

Our canoe did not have enough room for many people so we waited for it to return to pick us up with a view of the waterfalls at sunset to keep us entertained.

Our returning canoe with our local guide Miguel sat on the front.

Days 95&96 - Ciudad Bolivar, Venezuela

CIUDAD BOLIVAR (06/04/09 & 07/04/09)

Another long days travel from Margarita Island on the 6th by taxi, a very nice ferry and bus. We arrived late afternoon in the town of Ciudad Bolivar by the Orinoco river, the jumping off point for trips to Canaima National Park and Angel Falls. The falls are named after the explorerer Jimmy Angel who crash landed the above plane, now outside Ciudad Bolivar airport, at the top of the falls in the 1930s. He climbed the way down and the plane remained at the top until the 70s when it was lifted off by helicopter.

Days 93 & 94 - Margarita Island, Venezuela

MARGARITA ISLAND ( 04/04/09 & 05/04/09)

We spent a couple of days just chilling out having cold drinks and empanadas. We did however visit one of the beaches which involved travelling part of the journey in one of these "taxis".

Due to it being the run up to Easter, a very important holiday in the Catholic calendar, there were hundreds of Venezuelan holiday makers on the beaches. We climbed up a large hill to escape them for 10 minutes.

Day 92 - Margarita Island, Venezuela

TRIP AROUND MARGARITA ISLAND (03/04/09)

The capital of Margarita Island, La Ascension, has another colonial fort but being inland the cannons look onto the hills.

This famous church is home to one of the most famous virgin statues in Venezuela.

Next we visited the inland mangrove swamps on a boat.

Clusters of Oysters were living on the end of many of the mangrove roots.

This huge heron must have been about 5 feet tall.

We had no idea that there was such a thing as fresh water starfish but our boat driver pointed this out to us.

This range of hills is famous for looking like the profile of a face.

A Fish Eagle hunting in the mangroves.

Margarita Island is made up of two land masses joined by a narrow strip. The Eastern Island is built up and quite densly populated whilst the Western part is almost all desert.

In some parts there was almost a sea of Cactii.

Having got over our initial amazement at the number of cactii we decided to take advantage of no one being around and have some fun.

This was just a pretend hug although it should be noted that walking through a huge field of cactii wearing sandals is a VERY bad idea!

This cactus reminded Liz of Adam for some reason.

Elinor will be pleased to know that Liz has finally got her tongue pierced.

Some of the Cactii were huge.

There were many different species.

The cactii in the desert were impressive enough on their own but were flanked by a beautiful stretch of coastline.

Our first South American sunset.

Day 91 - Margarita Island, Venezuela

PAMPATAR, MARGARITA ISLAND (02/04/09)

We stayed in a converted house rather than a hotel in a residential area of Margarita Island. This meant that we had to travel around by bus which was easier said than done since they are all privately owned and only leave when they are full.

Pampatar one of the oldest settlements still has the remains of a colonial fort on the sea front.

Liz has discovered a new love in her life - cheese empanadas! These are thick corn pancakes filled with crumbly white cheese, folded over and deep fried. This is a picture of one of the street stalls where we bought them from.

Not so good for the waistline but Liz is still very happy. Adam managed to take this picture despite agonising stomach ache from the grease.

Day 90 - Flight Caracas to Margarita Island, Venezuela

FLIGHT FROM CARACAS TO MARGARITA ISLAND (01/04/09)

For once getting up early did us a huge favour. Our first morning in South America was nearly ruined due to the time of our flight having been changed to 40 minutes earlier with out telling us. Caracas is a city with a dangerous reputation so we flew to the Venezuelan island of Margarita as quickly as possible.

Day 89 - Flight from Costa Rica to Venezuela

FLIGHT FROM SAN JOSE TO CARACAS (31/03/09)

Our last day in Central America we got an early taxi to San Jose airport for our flight to Venezuela. As usual we were about 3 hours early and had plenty of time to watch other planes taking off.

One well travelled bunny rabbit (or disgusting rag depending on your point of view).

Our first view of South America as we were coming into land at Caracas airport.