The Indians call it
Churun Meru. Jimmy Angel, an American bush pilot and gold-hunting adventurer, discovered
it when he flew off course and suddenly saw a huge flat-topped mountain below, with a
cataract falling vertically from its upper edge. The author of this book had an
opportunity to look through Angel’s logbook and found the corresponding entry, dated
November 16, 1933. It reads: "I found myself a waterfall," as indeed he had, the
highest ever discovered. Not until December of the same year did he again locate the
Auyan-Tepuy mountain, 8,000 feet high and with its top mostly hidden behind clouds. He
then took the first photographs of mountain and waterfall, subsequently named after him.
The waters fall freely some 3,000 feet and reach the bottom of the valley as a misty spray
that gathers into a small creek and eventually finds its way into the north-bound Rio
Churun. Later, in 1937, Angel, together with his wife, was forced to make an emergency
landing on the Auyan-Tepuy plateau. The aircraft was considerably damaged and had to be
abandoned. It was salvaged only recently and is now displayed in the Air Force Museum at
Maracay. Jimmy Angel died in Panama on August 12, 1956. He felt so deeply attached to the
Churun Meru that he wished to have his ashes strewn over the waterfall. Flight Captain
Marvin G. Grigsby, a close friend of Angel’s, did this on July 2, 1960.
The Indians call it
Churun Meru. Jimmy Angel, an American bush pilot and gold-hunting adventurer, discovered
it when he flew off course and suddenly saw a huge flat-topped mountain below, with a
cataract falling vertically from its upper edge. The author of this book had an
opportunity to look through Angel’s logbook and found the corresponding entry, dated
November 16, 1933. It reads: "I found myself a waterfall," as indeed he had, the
highest ever discovered. Not until December of the same year did he again locate the
Auyan-Tepuy mountain, 8,000 feet high and with its top mostly hidden behind clouds. He
then took the first photographs of mountain and waterfall, subsequently named after him.
The waters fall freely some 3,000 feet and reach the bottom of the valley as a misty spray
that gathers into a small creek and eventually finds its way into the north-bound Rio
Churun. Later, in 1937, Angel, together with his wife, was forced to make an emergency
landing on the Auyan-Tepuy plateau. The aircraft was considerably damaged and had to be
abandoned. It was salvaged only recently and is now displayed in the Air Force Museum at
Maracay. Jimmy Angel died in Panama on August 12, 1956. He felt so deeply attached to the
Churun Meru that he wished to have his ashes strewn over the waterfall. Flight Captain
Marvin G. Grigsby, a close friend of Angel’s, did this on July 2, 1960.
