CANAIMA LAGOON: Walking behind the waterfalls

Canaima is one of the most famous national parks in Venezuela and has only started to be a tourist destination since the 60's. It was named World Heritage Side by UNESCO in 1994 as it is home of the unique tepuis.

The tepuis are flat-top mountains, and their name derive from the Pemon tribe, meaning "The House of the Gods." They are Precambrian rocks that make Canaima's landscape an outstanding place to visit.

The Canaima lagoon, where I headed, can only be accessed to from light aircraft, and because of the strong winds, only skilled pilots can flight over there. It was a turbulent journey, but I felt like it was exciting.

Ucaima Fall

I was first taken to the Ucaima cascade, its name means "what attracts" in Pemon language, and it really attracted me. The day was sunny and the greenish colors looked spectacular!

I arranged my trip with Ucaima Camp, near that cascade. That weekend, I stayed at one of the camp's cabin at the shore of the Carrao River. This place is one of the most beautiful inns I have stayed at. It has a view to three tepuis, Kurun, Kusari, and Kuravaina. You can even see the aircraft as it is close to the landing track. The guide received us with drinks and a necklace made of peony seeds, a symbol in its tribe to repeal the bad energies.

Campamento Ucaima, by Jungle Rudy

The first thing I did, was to go for a swim at the river because I could not not do it. I also walked through the whole area and the macaws (birds) gave me my greetings as soon as I had some food in my hands for them.

This day, we had an excursion prepared. The most common trips to do in the area are around the nearby waterfalls to walk inside of them. So of course, I did not miss the chance of doing so.

Salto El Hacha

From the shore of the camp, we took a curiara (canoe) to go to Salto El Hacha (Te Ax Waterfall) through the Canaima Lagoon. Depending on how mighty the waterfall is, they let you walk inside of it. That day of November, the fall was not that big as the dry season was coming ahead, so we were lucky.

This is were the socks come in handy as they are perfect for walking over wet rocks. We put them on and the canoe left us at the beginning of the cascade, where we had to go up some natural rocky stairs. Then, we started walking from the inside of Salto El Hacha.

The view of the cascade falling in front of us was astonishing. It was refreshing and the sound was very peaceful, and the more we walked to the other side, the more amazing it would get.

Salto El Sapo

We walked from one cascade to the other. Salto El Sapo (Frog Waterfall), was less mighty than the previous one, but it was still beautiful and towering. I had to walk slowly as the waterfall, even when is not at its biggest potency, is still dangerous. The socks kept me from slipping off, but they could not do anything to save me from tripping of from the loose rocks on the way.

Walking behind the water curtain was an amazing experience. After getting to the end of it, there are some steps that lead us through a rocky path for a hike of about 30 minutes that took us to the top of this fall. This was the icing on the cake. The view from the top was surreal and we even got to see the sunset from there. That day was so stunning that I won't ever forget how happy it made me feel.