The tallest waterfall in the world is in America
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The tallest waterfall in the world is in America, and it is one of the most searched natural wonders of the world on the internet.
The highest waterfall in the world is the Angel Falls is located in the Churún Canyon (Devil’s Canyon) of the Auyán Tepuy, a plateau in the altiplano of La Guayana in the state of Bolívar, southeastern Venezuela.
It should be noted that the tallest waterfall in the world was discovered by the American pilot Jimmie Angel on November 16, 1933, that is, less than a century ago.
It was a solo flight in the Churún Canyon (Devil’s Canyon), he made the flight with a Travel Airs 6000B, powered by a three hundred horsepower engine.
He was so impressed with his initial discovery that he returned three days later, on November 19, 1933 and wrote in his diary “FLIGHT OVER THE GREAT FALLS – 1 – MILE”.
Some historians claim that the first European to visit the highest waterfall in the world was Fernando de Berrío, a Spanish explorer and governor of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
Other sources claim that the first Westerner to see the waterfall was the Spanish explorer Felix Cardona in 1927.
The tallest waterfall in the world
The world’s tallest waterfall has a main drop of 807.1 meters (2,648 feet) with a total vertical drop of 979 meters (3,212 feet). It falls on the edge of the Auyán Tepuy, a plateau in the Canaima National Park.
The tallest waterfall in the world was measured by Ruth Robertson, an American photojournalist, during her forgotten expedition in May 1949.
She arrived at the falls on May 12, 1949, when she and her team, Perry Lowrey and Aleksandrs Laime, set out to measure them.
The first person to reach the waterfall by land was Aleksandrs Laime from Latvia, who arrived in Venezuela with his wife in the mid-1940s and was interviewed by El Gráfico in 1948 when he stated that he had made the trip to Angel Falls previously (sometime between 1946 and mid-1948).
Ruth read the interview and quickly got in touch with him to help lead his expedition the following year.
Angel Falls was the name officially adopted by the Venezuelan government in 1939 after an exploration trip in the Gran Sabana, by presidential order of the then president, Eleazar López Contreras.
The report said“ “Angel Falls, named after its discoverer, James Angel” (Angel Falls, named after its discoverer, James Angel).
The Kamarakoto elders of one of the local Pemon tribes in the Canaima National Park call the falls, Churún Vená.
Also read: The magical Iguazu Falls are a gem in the Americas.