The Synchronicity of Angel Falls

Angel Falls is the world’s longest uninterrupted waterfall, located in Canaima National Park in the Gran Sabana region of Venezuela. Years ago, Trish and I spent several days in the vast park and flew close to the falls in a small plane. Trish grew up in Venezuela so it was a homecoming trip for her.

On that journey, we learned about the synchronicity of Angel Falls. When you see the video that’s linked here, you will glimpse the mysterious majesty of the fall and you might even think you see an angel in the mist.

However, surprisingly the falls obtained its name from an American aviator, Jimmie Angel, who discovered the great falls in the early 1930s. However, no one believed his story because maps of the region didn’t show any such enormous geological feature. Finally, on March 24, 1935 his story was verified when he flew his Flamingo plane over the falls with representatives of an American mining company. Realizing the falls had no known name, they dubbed it Angel Falls.

One of the miners, L.R. Dennison, wrote about his adventures with Jimmie Angel in a book called, Devil Mountain.  The mountain is now called Auyan-tepui. No doubt if Jimmie’s last name was Smith, the name of the falls would not have lasted to this day. But Angel Falls is perfect.

Jimmie Angel and Angel Falls became better known after Oct. 9, 1937 when Angel crash landed his Flamingo atop the tepui. He and the other crash survivors hiked for days until they reached a village. You can read more about Jimmie Angel’s adventures here.

Here’s an incredible video of Angel Falls:

As an addendum, it should be noted that no doubt the native population in the region had known about the falls for centuries and had a name for it. In that sense, this story is a latter day version of the idea of Columbus discovering America as if no one already lived there.