Venezuela

We launched from Grenada and like the last leg were headed a little west of south. Our farthest point east had been over flying Martinique. Again as a flight of two with the C-182 759JK we were doing half as much radio work. One of the things we were concerned about was the weather as we approached a continent again. No longer would we be able to hug the water or go around the clouds piled up over an island. Scattered to broken skies prevailed though for the day’s flights. As we approached each of our landings it opened up to few clouds with high temperatures and high humidity.


 
 
 

Jim Graham and Sally Plympton, two friends that joined us from Vancouver, WA, in Jim's C-182.  We flew as a flight of two to minimize radio traffic.  The RV cruised at about 2000 rpm to stay with the Cessna.







From Grenada the next piece of land was Peninsula de Paria, about 80 nm. From here we could see Trinidad off in the haze to the east. Just prior to this we had reported in at the Piarco-Maquetia control boundary and switched our brains from Francais to Espaniol. Crossing the Gulf of Paria, another 40 nm, we were now back over solid river delta if not solid ground. One of the things I had thought about while we were planning this trip was the density of the Venezuelan forest. If we had gone down in the Caribbean, all we had to do was float for a few hours before someone found us and picked us up. Here over the jungle, if we had a successful landing, the "finding us" part would be a long shot.

On this leg we discovered an airport just inside Venezuela that was using the same frequency we were using for inter-plane communications. We were using 130.55, what we understood was a normal inter-plane frequency. This made for a bit of confusion at first contact. While we were talking with each other between planes someone at the airport started talking back, mostly in Spanish. We soon figured out that Pedernales Airport used 130.55 and we cut back on our radio chatter until we were out of range.

Our first landing in Venezuela was at Ciudad Guayana, an airport of entry. Here we received a warm welcome from the local aero club. They have their own club house on the airport and had a long table set up with food and drink to replenish our own fuel tanks after we had filled the planes. They had made arrangements for the customs and immigration people to take care of all our paperwork while we were having lunch.





Parking up front for the little yellow plane attracted most of the local airplane mechanics.  No English, only spanish, but these guys all knew what 150 horsepower and 700 kg  meant!
 
 
 
 
 
 

When we taxied from the fuel pumps to the club house the little yellow plane once again got most of the attention. As they were waving the rest of the planes down the line for parking they motioned for us to park up front. We soon had a crowd around us as we unfolded ourselves from the plane. Before we left we had taken a couple dozen pictures with the locals standing next to the plane including "baby pictures" and interviews with two local television stations. They were not used to seeing this caliber of airplane on the ramp and it was a treat being able to show off a little.

  The Rio Caroni "river"
We saddled up and launched for our farthest point south. This time Jim and I departed as a flight of two. If flying formation with a C-182 didn’t seem like slow flight, climbing out with one certainly was. We turned right, on heading for Canaima, and followed the Rio Caroni into the Venezuelan interior. The picture of the river on the chart was not what we were seeing on the ground. A recently built dam had turned the river into a very long and wide lake. After we had been over this for a while we concluded that we should have left our flotation gear on. In a little over an hour we pulled into the pattern at Canaima. The highlands (Tepuis) looming in the background were spectacular. They looked like huge granite islands rising out of a sea of jungle. We rolled down the 6000-foot runway and parked next to our small squadron. Our hosts from "Jungle Rudy’s" greeted us with the bus that would take us to our home for the next three days.

We boarded the "tourist carriers" and slowly made our way up the road. We could have walked it much faster as the road was rough enough to bounce the bus even at a crawl. Half way to Jungle Rudy’s we were put on boats that were a dugout canoe modified with seats and outboard motors. They piled all 32 of us into two boats and took us a mile up river to camp, our luggage showed up later.

Jungle Rudy's

    

Stepping off of the boat was like walking out of the wilds and stumbling onto a little resort in the jungle. It turned out that we weren’t going to be roughing it for a few days. We were met with rum punches and surrounded by quaint little cottages complete with a patio lounge where we could order our favorite poison. The grounds were immaculately kept; they had a generator for lights in the evening and cold running water in every room. (We were at 6-1/2 degrees north latitude. Hot running water was not part of the package). We settled in, our luggage showed up and after a chance to explore the camp, dinner was ready.

After dinner we made plans for seeing the local sights over the next two days. Half of us would head for Angel Falls the next day, the other half would go to Sapo Falls, and on the second day we would swap trips.

Angel Falls

Up at 4:30 the next day we had to get on the river early in order to make it back by dark. We had 57 miles of riding in the boats up river to get to the trailhead that led us to Angel Falls. It was dark for the first half-hour going up river and the sun rose as we were making a portage around some rapids. We had to get out and walk to make the boats light enough to get over the rough spots in the river. After a mile walk that helped us wake up we were back in the boat. On the trip the weather would change at a moment’s notice. It would be raining on us and we would round a bend in the river and the sun would be out. The riverbanks are mostly jungle, broken occasionally by small clearings with some huts where some of the locals live and a couple of picnic areas for the tourists. After another hour going up stream, we stopped at one of the picnic areas for breakfast. Our hosts had packed a ready to eat meal and soon we were back on the river.

Our boat drivers were something to watch, one in the back running the outboard and one setting on the nose with a paddle to help steer. These boats are about 25 feet long and four feet wide, these guys could make it turn on a dime with a full load of tourists. As we got farther up river the rocks got bigger and the passages got narrower.

    

Looking up at the Tepuis you could see how the landscape was formed by huge slabs of granite coming off the cliffs and stopping in the riverbeds. The geology of the area is a marvel to look at. It resembles the rim rocks of Central Oregon only on an order of magnitude larger scale. As the river snaked its way through these canyons we saw dozens of waterfalls each hundreds of feet high. It is interesting to contrast the features of the landscape in a region where there is no freezing conditions every year. In the colder latitudes the "rubble" from the cliffs is much smaller due to water freezing in the cracks and breaking it into smaller pieces. I am told that almost a century ago an author named Arthur Conan Doyle visited this region and wrote the novel "The Lost World". I can certainly share his perspective; it looks like the land that time forgot. The features are massive and you almost wouldn’t be surprised to see a dinosaur come crashing out of the jungle or a Pterodactyl swoop in from overhead.

After a total of four hours on the river we stopped at the trailhead and hopped off the boat. You could see angel falls in the distance. The clouds were competing for the view and we waited a while to try and get some good pictures. Jim Graham got a few great shots just as the clouds parted and we started heading up the trail through the jungle. We were headed for a viewpoint and wouldn’t make it all the way to the base of the falls. This would have necessitated an overnight at the camp at the base of the falls. If I make it back to here someday I will plan on the overnight trip if for no other reason than to swim in the pool at the base of the falls.

After hiking and climbing for a little more than an hour we came out on a small rock ledge where the trees parted and we had a full up view of the tallest waterfall on one of the oldest strata on the planet. We were close enough that you couldn’t get the whole thing in the camera frame. Next time (again, next time) I’m upgrading the camera equipment for the trip! It was amazing to lay there on the rocks and watch the water dance as it fell over three thousand feet. Some of the wind currents had sheets of water going back up the huge channel that the falls had carved out over millions of years. Most of the water that came over the top didn’t even make it to the bottom. It was turning into mist and evaporating as it fell. This was a micro weather system all to itself.

Soon our guide was rounding us up and we were headed back down. Once again the schedule had to be met and after about 45 minutes descending the trail we were back at the boat. A short trip down river brought us to another picnic area where we would have one of the best meals of the whole trip. While we were hiking the boat pilots had been busy preparing a lunch of fresh spit roasted chicken, tomato and onion salad and fresh fruit that was fit for a king. We ate until we had to stop, then walked around and took more pictures.

Some of the folks that had been on the boat ride up had not made the hike to the viewpoint, but had stayed at the picnic area where we had lunch. It was a good spot to view the falls from a distance and get a good picture. There was actually a clearing for a helicopter landing area about a hundred yards away. It was supposedly an emergency landing spot for the sight seeing flights. We heard stories of pilots who are the local search and rescue gang. They’ve been on a lot of search missions but rarely will they find anyone who has penetrated the jungle canopy. The falls are named for a pilot, Jimmy Angel, who in 1937 landed his Norseman on the top of Auyan Tepui, the source of Angel Falls. He was an explorer/dare devil who was looking for more of the spectacular falls that are typical of the region and as the story goes, on a dare he landed. The plane unfortunately got stuck in the mud and didn’t end up in a condition to take off again. It took him eleven days to get back to civilization. There were pictures of the plane with some local explorers who found it in a scrapbook back at Jungle Rudy’s. Like every other plane that has gone down in the jungle, it’s still there.

With our tanks full we headed back down the river. The scenery never got old as we followed the canyon winding its way through the jungle. Interestingly there were very few birds. This region has very few fruit bearing trees so there is little food for birds here. We did see some amazing butterflies that were about the size of a small plate and neon blue in color. As they flew through the trees you would see this flashing neon blue along the banks of the river.

Half way down our guides stopped so we could take a dip in a waterfall that drops into the river. It is called the Pool of Happiness by the locals and is one of those places you can crawl into the falls itself and be pounded by the water while you’re swimming. We then continued our trip down the river and made it back to camp about an hour before sundown.

Sapo Falls

The next day we went on the Sapo Falls trip, which was a much less strenuous adventure. After another boat ride we were hiking again. This time our trek took us on a trail UNDER the falls where we got quite soaked. Down to a secluded beach where we went swimming again before heading back to camp. After lunch we took another ride into Canaima where we did our requisite souvenir shopping at a couple of local shops

        

Our last night at Jungle Rudy’s we once again had our pre flight briefing and then sat down to another great meal. We all traded stories about the hikes we had taken over the last two days and planned our flights over the Tepuis on our way back north. We were at the far end of our route and it seemed like we were going to be leaving too soon.

The next morning we packed up and after a final meal got in the boats and headed back to the Canaima airport. When we took off some of us headed for the Tepuis for one last look at Angel Falls. I was hoping fly formation with someone to get a shot of the RV-4 against the falls but we had departed without getting it in the plan. As it was we were going to be pressed for time to get all the way to Martinique before dark since night VFR is not allowed in the Caribbean. The leg to Ciudad Guayana was quick and once again the aero club were great hosts greeting us with lunch and assistance from the customs and immigration people.

Next episode, North to Martinique.