A Bush Pilot, the World's Tallest Waterfall, and the Guiana Highlands

Guest Column by GeoT

The Guiana Highlands of northern South America are part of the Gondwana Shield and contain rock that is among the oldest on earth. It is a mountainous tableland 1,200 miles long and 200 to 600 miles wide. It is located in southeastern Venezuela and surrounding areas. Mt. Roraima in the Pacariama Mountains on the border with Guyana and Brazil is the highest peak at 9,100 feet. Geologically, this area is related to the mineral-rich Brazilian Highlands to the south. It is a huge plateau of pre-Cambrian crystalline rocks overlain by more recent layers of sandstone and lava. The plateaus rise, one after the other, separated by sheer escarpments hundreds or even thousands of feet high. A little more impressive than most maps show! Heavy rainfall creates many rivers, which flow over the escarpments as tremendous waterfalls. Hydroelectric possibilities are enormous! Deep gorges separate the flat-topped sandstone plateaus, called "tepuis," that make up the high mountain surface.

Resources here have been known for some time, but due to dense vegetation and remote location, have only recently begun to be developed. The crystalline rock contains gold and diamonds. Large deposits of iron ore, manganese, and bauxite are found as well. Transportation systems have now been built to exploit these resources. The dense vegetation remains a problem.

Among the rivers flowing over an escarpment is the Churun, a tributary of the Caroni. The Churun begins with the heavy rainfall on the Auyantepui - a flat-topped mountain in the south central Highlands. It makes a turn to the northeast and then flows over an escarpment in a tremendous cataract. The highest in the world in fact! A drop of 3,212 feet. For the greatest part of the leap it makes no contact with any rock mass, just a plunge downward that takes 14 seconds to complete. No going over the falls in a barrel at this one! Depending on the season, the waterfall may be 500 feet wide at the base, or be scattered to mist along its descent.

Just who discovered this waterfall is a matter of some discussion. The natives in this part of southeastern Venezuela knew of its existence and called it Curnun Mera. Some say the first white person to see the falls was Ernesto Sanchez La Cruz, a Venezuelan explorer in 1910. Others say it was an American bush pilot in the 1930s.

The bush pilot hailed from Springfield, Missouri, and had seen service in World War I with the Royal Canadian Air Force, flew in China, served with the U.S. Army Air Corps, and flew as a test pilot in Chile. He then started a bush pilot air-service in Panama.

In the 1920s he was hired, in Panama, by an old prospector to fly to the Guiana Highlands in search of gold. The prospector needed a pilot who could "land on a dime" - and, of course, take off again! The prospector said he knew of a mountain of gold - but he needed an airplane to get there. They flew to Ciudad Bolivar, Venezuela, re-fueled, and headed for those flat-topped mountains. With the prospector giving directions, they examined tepui after tepui until finally the prospector said: "Land there!" The prospector quickly filled a bag with 75 lbs of gold (some say they panned it from a stream) and together, they took off again before daylight faded.

Upon returning to Panama, the prospector became ill and died, and the pilot had no money for a return visit - at least not then. But he did return in the 1930s on several occasions looking for that mountain of gold. Looking for that very special tepui.

It was on one of those expeditions in 1933, along the face of a tepui that a most incredible sight came into view. A waterfall. A very tall waterfall. (photo). Using his altimeter, the pilot estimated its height at 3,000 feet! "I found myself a waterfall!" he noted in his log-book records. The Venezuelan government confirmed the existence of the waterfall in l935. Returning in 1937, an attempt to land on that tepui was made, and made very successfully, until the plane rolled into a marshy area and nosed into the ground and was badly damaged. It took the pilot and his companions 11 days to hike down from the top. (map)

The pilot returned in 1942 looking for the mountain of gold but never found it. Due to an incident involving government aircraft becoming lost coming to his rescue, he became unwelcome in Venezuela and never returned.

He lost his life as the result of an air crash in Panama in 1956, and, as was his wish, he was cremated and his ashes spread over that waterfall in Venezuela. It is said: "There are old pilots, and there are bold pilots. But, there are no old, bold, pilots." This pilot may have come close to being the exception to that saying.

The pilot's name was Jimmy Angel, and it is for him that the world's tallest waterfall is named. And, the name of the tepui? It is called Devil's Mountain (what else could it be!).

So, now we know how beautiful Angel Falls has come to be from Devil's Mountain - the English name for Auyantepui.

Jimmie's 1937 plane that crashed was lifted off the mountain by helicopter in 1970 and is on display the airport at Ciudad Bolivar. A replica has been placed on the mountain.

And the world's highest waterfall carries his name.

GeoT is a long-time high school geography teacher from Illinois. In addition to geography, he enjoys railroads and model railroads, old Oldsmobiles, and gardening.

Discuss in my forum