ANGEL FALLS

Spanish Salto ngel, also called Salto Churn Mer, waterfall in the Guiana Highlands in Bolvar state, southeastern Venezuela, on the Churn River, a tributary of the Caron, 160 miles (260 km) southeast of Ciudad Bolvar. The highest waterfall in the world, the cataract drops 3,212 feet (979 m) and is 500 feet (150 m) wide at the base. It leaps from a flat-topped plateau, Auyn-Tepu (Devils Mountain), barely making contact with the sheer face. The falls, discovered in 1935, were named for James Angel, an American adventurer who crash-landed his plane on a nearby mesa in 1937. Because of the dense jungle surrounding the falls they are best seen from the air.