The Ultimate Angel Falls Adventure

You gaze in awe at the powerful force of nature known as Angel Falls, whose waters plunge more than 3,000 feet. Angel Falls-the world's tallest waterfall-is one of the eight natural wonders of the world. You are there, after a long, hot hike, swimming in one of the refreshing natural pools beneath the towering falls.


You look up and see a rainbow created from the dance of the mist and the tropical sun. As you swim in the clear waters with your traveling companions, you sense a spiritual force, a mysterious energy that soothes you. You lean back and float in the natural pool and realize that you are far way from everything, but there is no other place that you would rather be. 


Make This Angel Falls Hiking Dream A Reality
As part of this Angel-Eco Tours eight-day/seven-night adventure, you will travel through jungles, grasslands and hidden canyons in Canaima National Park. You will also meet members of the native Pemón tribe and experience their culture and lifestyle. 


The sites and sounds of Angels Falls and the Canaima National Park are unforgettable. Canaima National Park is one of the world's great natural wonders and a hiker's paradise. On your Angel-Eco Tours' customized adventure tour, you will trek across grassy plains that never seem to end and rainforests that reach to the heavens. 


You will also hike on and around vertical rock formations called tepuis that are hundreds of millions of years old. Tepuis have flat, slopping tops that are the sites of unique plant life. Scientists have called tepuis "islands in time" or "ecological islands" because of their unique ecosystems. 


During your hiking adventure to Angel Falls and Canaima National Park, you will encounter a dazzling array of birds, such as macaws, toucans, parakeets, parrots, tanagers, hummingbirds and the illusive cock of the rock, as well as many other exotic species. The land is also rich in exotic wildlife, such as anteaters, jaguars, sloths and howler monkeys. 


If you crave a hiking adventure tour that is out of the ordinary and off the beaten path, Angel Falls and the Canaima National Park are the natural wonders and adventure destinations for you. 


This trip is moderately strenuous. To get to the base of Angel Falls, we will escort the group on a 1 to 1.5-hour slow hike (at your own speed) through the soaring canopied rainforest. 


The trip to Angel Falls and Canaima National Park includes walking, hiking, swimming and river travel in large canoes 

The Great Amazon River

The Amazon is the greatest river in the world by so many measures; the volume of water it carries to the sea (approximately 20% of all the freshwater discharge into the oceans), the area of land that drains into it, and its length and width. It is one of the longest rivers in the world and, depending upon who you talk to, is anywhere between 6,259km/3,903mi and 6,712km/4,195mi long.

For the last century the length of the Amazon and the Nile Rivers have been in a tight battle for title of world's longest river. The exact length of the two rivers varies over time and reputable sources disagree as to their actual length. The Nile River in Africa is reported to be anywhere from at 5,499km/3,437mi to 6,690km/4,180mi long. But there is no question as to which of the two great rivers carries the greater volume of water - the Amazon River.

At its widest point the Amazon River can be 11km/6.8 mi wide during the dry season. The area covered by the Amazon River and its tributaries 

more than triples over the course of a year. In an average dry season 110,000 square km of land are water-covered, while in the wet season the flooded area of the Amazon Basin rises to 350,000 square km. When the flood plains and the Amazon River Basin flood during the rainy season the Amazon River can be up to 40km/24.8 mi wide. Where the Amazon opens at its estuary the river is over 325km/202 mi wide!

Because the Amazon drains the entire Northern half of the South American continent (approx. 40% landmass), including all the torrential tropical rains that deluge the rainforests, it carries an enormous amount of water. The mouth of the Amazon River, where it meets the sea, is so wide and deep that ocean-going ships have navigated its waters and traveled as far inland as two-thirds the way up the entire length of the river.

The Amazon - Home of Extremes

The Amazon River is not only the greatest in the world, it is home to many other "Extremes" of the natural world. Have you ever seen a catfish? They're usually found in warm, slow moving waters of lakes and streams, and some people keep them as pets in aquariums. Catfish are pretty creepy looking fish with big flat heads and "whiskers" on either side of their heads (hence the name, catfish). Most catfish that we're familiar with here in the U.S. are anywhere from eight inches long to about five feet, weighing in at up to 60 pounds. But the catfish that live in the world's greatest river have all the room in the world to grow as big as nature will allow - they have been captured weighing over 200 pounds! One of the largest freshwater fish in the world is found living in the waters of the Amazon River. Arapaima, also known locally as Pirarucu, Arapaima gigas are the largest, exclusively fresh water fish in the world. They have been found to reach a length of 15 ft/4m and can weigh up to 440lbs/200kg. (Read about the biggest freshwater fish in the world.)

The Amazon is also home to some other extreme creatures, featured here in "Extreme Science"; the Anaconda (biggest snake), and Piranha (most ferocious).

Amazon River Facts

So, how did the Amazon get to be so big? The first reason has to do with its location - right at the equator. Around the "belt line" of the earth lies a warm, tropical zone where over 400 in/1016cm of rain fall every year. That averages out to more than an inch (3cm) of rain, everyday! A lot of water falls onto the land surrounding the river, what is called the "Amazon River drainage basin". A good way to understand what a drainage basin is to think of the whole northern half of the continent of South America as a shallow dish, or saucer. Whenever rain falls and lands anywhere in the river basin it all runs into the lowest place in the pan, which happens to be the Amazon River. The sheer volume of rain in the Amazon jungle, as well as the slope of the surrounding land, combine to create the enormous river known as the Amazon.