In Angel Falls, Venezuela, a Forest of Islands (VIDEO – Photo)

Angel Falls in Venezuela (Or as natives used to call it “waterfall of the deepest place/the fall from the highest point”) is the world’s highest waterfall with a 979 meters drop. The waterfall drops from Auyantepui mountain.

Angel Falls were not known to the world till 16/11/1933 when the American pilot, Jimmie Angel (Angel Falls were named after his surname) flew over them on a flight while he was looking for good mining areas.

Sir Walter Raleigh described what was possibly a tepuy (table top mountain), and he is said to have been the first European to view Angel Falls, but these claims are considered far-fetched. Some historians state that the first European to visit the waterfall was Fernando de Berrío, a Spanish explorer and governor from the 16th and 17th centuries.

According to accounts of Venezuelan explorer Ernesto Sánchez La Cruz, he spotted falls in 1912, but he did not publicize his discovery. It is possible that Cruz saw the Montoya Falls in the Sierra Pacaraima region,which are more than 500 m tall.They were not known to the outside world until American aviator Jimmie Angel flew over them on 16 November 1933 on a flight while he was searching for a valuable ore bed.

Returning on 9 October 1937, Angel tried to land his Flamingo monoplane El Río Caroní; atop Auyan-tepui, but the plane was damaged when the wheels sank into the marshy ground. Angel and his three companions, including his wife Marie, were forced to descend the tepui on foot. It took them 11 days to make their way back to civilization via the gradually sloping back side but news of their adventure spread and the waterfall was named Angel Falls in his honor. The name of waterfall – “Salto Angel” – was first published on a Venezuelan government map in December 1939