Canaima National Park is a magical place and our three day excursion has been one of the best we have undertaken and despite it being a couple of days late it was a great way to celebrate Julie's birthday. It is an adventure in itself getting to Angel Falls. We had to take two planes, including an hour in a small 6 seater Cessna that landed on a tiny airstrip in the Canaima National Park at the settlement of Canaima, followed by a four hour journey in a motorised dug out canoe flying up rapids and getting very wet aong the way. The scenery begins in flat savannah before moving into lush green jungle that creeps into the rivers edge. It is supposed to be the dry season but the water is pretty high for this time of the year, the seasons are getting later and later. Giant oblong and square mountains jut out of the landscape, many with their own waterfalls pouring from them. As we move further up the river these become more and more in number, and crazy finger like rock formations begin to appear at the.top of some of them. Out here it is just us and nature - a real into the wild experience.

We have seen a lot of waterfalls along our travels but our first glimpse of Angel Falls (Salto Angel in Spanish or in the local Pemon language, Churún Merú) is jaw droppingly beautiful . Unlike many of the other falls we have seen there is a grace and elegance about Angel Falls. The sun was dropping behind and there was barely a cloud in the sky. The water drops nearly 1km or around 320 storeys, that is like...well a really tall building. It is a truly enchanting scene and you half expect to see Simba roaring from the top. We stayed overnight at the base of the falls in a basic camp with mosquito hooded hammock surrounded by the sounds of the river, the falls, the birds, the jungle and breeze passing through the canopy.

We rose early for a wholesome breakfast and waited for the rain to stop, so we could hike to the mirador (lookout point). It began pouring it down at at around 8pm the night before and was still drizzling as we jumped in the canoe to cross the river at 9am. It is a one hour trek through the jungle along a winding muddy track, wading across rivers and streams with the last half hour climbing uphill with the sound of the falls getting louder and louder . The mirador was amazing despite the rain still spitting at us. As we couldn't yet see the top due to the clouds and mist we decided to head for a swim at the base of the falls and return in an hour or so. At this time of the year it is safe enough to swim but during the wet months the water is too high and dangerous - you can easily be swept into the rushing river.

The falls drop and cascade onto a small cliff top, about 30 metres wide and 10 metres high which channels the water into a rocky pool where you can swim. The water is crystal clear and not as cold as we thought it might be. If you swim into the middle of the channel the current is very strong. I found a boulder sitting just under the waters surface there and managed to stand up, from there I was directly at the centre of the falls looking up, it was incredible though interestingly it looks much higher from further away, which must be a trick on the eye.

The sun had begun to come out so we headed back to the look out where the top was now clearly visible . There was still quite a few low lying clouds around so we wanted to get our pictures taken before they moved in to cover it. At the moment the falls drop in two streams from the top merging half way down into a huge mist throwing lots of small rainbows around and the beige sheer cliff face, which seems to change colour as the sun and clouds move. We said our goodbyes and headed back down the track to camp for lunch.

On our return in the canoe we were treated to a torrential down pour for over an hour, every part of us was wet through. Fortunately as we were heading with the river current our trip was much faster, just over two and a half hours. As we had to leave early the next day back to Caracas Julie, our guide, Churum, and I were dropped off along the way to see Salto Sappo (Sappo Falls). The rest of the group would be heading there the next day.

Sappo is named after the black and yellow toxic frogs found in the area. It's around 70 metres wide, beginning with smooth rock steps bouncing down to a drop off of around 35 metres . The river rushes across the steps and over the top with a huge sound. We walked to around two thirds of the way down to a natural enclave that runs all along and behind the falls themselves that you can climb along. We stripped down to our swimming gear and grabbed the rope that runs through the enclave providing a little support and headed in. The power of the water rushing overhead is awesome and at one point in the middle you have to pass through it getting totally soaked. It is an adrenaline rush, especially as it wouldn't take much to slip on the greasy rocks and fall over the edge and down onto the boulders below.

Afterwards we trekked back to Canaima Lagoon where we picked up another motorised dug out and headed back to the Canaima township. That night we stayed at the pretty Parakaupa Lodge where we could see the five sets of falls that are on the lagoon from our lovely room. We seemed to be the only people staying at the Lodge and it was like being in our very own slice of heaven.

On the way back our pilot on the Cessna decided to read a newspaper over the controls as we headed on our first leg to Caracas, much like a London taxi driver does whilst sat in traffic, only this guy was flying our plane. Crazy, but we got there in one piece.