Angel Falls in National Geographic Traveller

South America: Off the Tourist Map

From a Witches’ Market in Suriname to storm chasing in Venezuela, a world of unexpected adventure awaits those who dare to delve into the less-explored corners of the continent.

Come with me as I fly deep into Venezuela's southern jungles and take a traditional dugout canoe up the tea-coloured Carrao and Churun rivers to the base of the highest waterfall in the world, the awe-inspiring Angel Falls in Canaima National Park.

Like many tourists and travellers, I followed the same trail used by the US journalist Ruth Robertson on the 1949 expedition that first measured the falls, and more recently by cockney hard man Ray Winstone, who came to Canaima to film a remake of Point Break.

Read the full story at National Geographic Traveller magazine

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Angel Falls a finalist for New 7 Natural Wonders

It's official. The highest waterfall in the world and Venezuela's greatest tourist attraction, Angel Falls, has been announced as one of the 28 finalists in a competition to find the New Seven Wonders of Nature.

The final 28 were unveiled on 21 July in Zurich by the Swiss-based non-profit organization the New7Wonders Foundation and voting for the New 7Wonders is underway.

Angel Falls, or Salto Angel as it is known in Venezuela, was chosen from among 77 natural wonders that had been whittled down from 261 suggested global landmarks following an online vote and a final decision by a panel of experts.

Led by the ex-director general of UNESCO, Federico Mayor Zaragoza, the panel made their selection using criteria such as natural beauty, ecological importance, historical importance and geographical location, to have an equal distribution by continent.

Cascading spectacularly from the top of flat-topped mountain Auyan-tepui into the Churun River below, Angel Falls is a worthy candidate for the New Seven Wonders of Nature.

Located in remote jungle more than 100 km from the nearest town, Angel Falls drops 979 metres from the top of the mountain - with an uninterrupted drop of 807 metres - and is 19 times higher than Niagara Falls.

The only way to get to the base of the falls is by navigating the Carrao and Churun rivers in a two day trip by dugout canoe from the jungle camp of Canaima.

Other succesful finalists include The Amazon rainforest, Australia's Great Barrier Reef, Ecuador's Galapagos Islands, The Grand Canyon in the USA, Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa and the Dead Sea.

In the final phase of the competition, the public will now have the chance to select their top seven from the list of 28 natural wonders.

The succesful seven will be announced in 2011.

The man who came up with the idea, Swiss-Canadian filmmaker and aviator Bernard Weber, says his goal is to raise awareness about the natural treasures of the planet and the need to conserve them.

The foundation's slogan is: "If we want to save anything, we first need to truly appreciate it."

Critics have questioned the fact that some governments have led high-profile media campaigns to get people to vote for their natural wonders, given the clear tourism benefits that this kind of competition can generate.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO, which has its own list of Cultural and Natural Heritage Sights, has definitely not welcomed the initiative saying that the list of the New Seven Wonders finalists "will be the result of a private undertaking, reflecting only the opinions of those with access to the Internet and not the entire world."

And skeptics might wonder why well-known landmarks like Mount Everest, the highest mountain in the world, didn't make the list.

But casting aside the scientific basis of the competition, or whether it's fair or even representative, the only way to get Angel Falls on the list of the New Seven Wonders of Nature is to get voting on the New7Wonders website:

Video clip of Angel Falls from David Attenborough's BBC series "Planet Earth"

Report on Jimmie Angel and the "Discovery" of Angel Falls

Spectacular video clip of oldest base Jumper to leap from the top of Angel Falls

Auyan-tepui, Angel Falls and Pemon myths

Travel article: Cueva del Guacharo - Oilbirds and Elephant Ears

Will Angel Falls become one of the New 7 Natural Wonders?

Newsflash! The results are in and Angel Falls is one of the 28 finalists vying to become one of the New Seven Wonders of Nature. Read about it here:

Will Angel Falls become one of the New 7 Wonders of Nature? It seems like the voting has been going on for ever but there's not long now before we find out if the world's highest waterfall and Venezuela's greatest tourist attraction has made it into the Top 28 finalists.

All voting is currently on hold, as the New7Wonders panel of experts considers the TOP 77 nominees from the second phase of the online voting that ended on 7 July.

The panel's decision on which of the 77 nominees make the list for the 28 Official Finalist Candidates will be announced on 21 July at seven minutes past midday gmt.

Angel Falls is the only Venezuelan natural wonder to make it into the Top 77 in the category for Lakes, Rivers and Waterfalls.

Other succesful South American candidates include the Galapagos Islands in Ecuador, Iguazu Falls shared by Brazil and Argentina, Kaietur Falls in Guyana, the Atacama Desert in Chile and Lake Titicaca shared by Bolivia and Peru.

After the 28 finalists have been revealed on 21 July, voting will then resume again to decide the final seven Wonders of Nature.

The organizers estimate that by the time the finalists are revealed in 2011 over 1 billion votes will have been cast.

Back in 2007 more than 100 million people from all over the world cast votes for hundreds of architechural gems in a search for the 7 New Wonders of the World.

The final seven were Machu Picchu in Peru, the Pyramid of Chichen Itza in Mexico, Christ the Redeemer in Rio, Brazil, the Colosseum in Rome, Italy, the Great Wall of China, the ancient city of Petra in Jordan and the Taj Mahal in India.

Fingers crossed for Angel Falls on 21 July and thanks to all who voted.

Report on Jimmie Angel and the "Discovery" of Angel Falls

Video clip of Angel Falls from David Attenborough's BBC series "Planet Earth"

Spectacular video clip of oldest base Jumper to leap from the top of Angel Falls

Auyan-tepui, Angel Falls and Pemon myths

Travel article: Cueva del Guacharo - Oilbirds and Elephant Ears

Angel Falls - Base jumper proves age is no obstacle

Angel Falls

Jimmie Angel famously crashed his plane on top of Auyan-tepui not far from the waterfall which today bears his name. But what about jumping off the top with just a parachute to stop you smashing into the ground 979 metres below?

Welshman Eric Jones proved age is no obstacle to adventure in 1998 when he became the oldest person to base jump from the top of Auyan-tepui, launching himself off a cliff edge above the highest waterfall in the world. He was 61 years old.

Asked how he felt before he jumped, he said: "Quite cool, really. I was very focused on what I had to do: I had to start tracking - flying away from the rock face as soon as I'd fallen for three seconds. This is so that when the parachute opens, you're as far away from the rocks as possible."

Sounds sensible.

When he's not scaling the North Face of the Eiger, base jumping in Mexican caves or leaping from balloons, the 70 year-old adrenaline junkie relaxes at his regular job: running a small climbers' cafe in Tremadog, North Wales, near the coastal town of Porth Madog.

He must have been some kind of nutter to jump from the top of Angel Falls, but I'm glad he did because the crew captured some awesome images of the falls and the Devil's Canyon on the way down.

Click here to make Angel Falls one of the 7 Wonders of Nature

Video clip of Angel Falls from David Attenborough's BBC series "Planet Earth"

The True Story of Jimmie Angel and the Discovery of Angel Falls