Running next to waterfalls and planes landing in Canaima, Venezuela

Run in Canaima National Park, Venezuela. May 2024.

During our stay in Canaima National Park, we ran from La Laguna to Ucaima Falls, and extended our run to reach 8 kilometres by running right next to the airport’s airstrip while planes were landing just a few meters away!

TLDR; “too long, didn’t read”

• I just want to run! Take me to RUN.
• I have 1 minute. Take me to USEFUL INFORMATION.
• Running is my excuse for travelling. Take me to TRIP.
• I want to know what to read in the plane. Take me to ONE BOOK.

🌍 The trip 📷

We spent 4 days in Canaima’s National Park in May to fulfill a dream: see Angel Falls. The mytical waterfall, the highest in the world with almost a kilometer fall, which leaps from “the Devil’s mountain”.

We were super lucky, because neither the Park nor the waterfall were crowded. In fact, it was quite deserted (at least, comparing it with other natural wonders which we had recently visited, like Niagara Falls 😉).

Our guides told us that tourism was still recovering from Covid. Almost everybody in the lodge was from Venezuela, or Venezuelans living in Miami, so we could mix with the ‘locals’, so to speak.

Getting there – not that easy!

When we travelled, the only way to get to Canaima was a Convianca flight from Caracas which takes little more than one hour, but only flies on Sundays and Thursdays (back and forth).

So, we took the option to stay from Sunday to Thursday.

The overflight – totally worth it

The first day we booked an overflight with a little plane, and Embraer sitting 10 people which took 35 minutes and allowed us to see Angel’s Falls perfectly!

It was once a lifetime experience! Little we knew, thought, that the day after would be equally amazing.

The overflight is not cheap (still cheaper than the helicopter option) but it is totally worth it. We paid 120 USD each as there was a “Mother’s Day discount”, apparently 😊

You get to see the jungle from above and the impressive rocks that define this spot in the world.

And then you get to pass very close to the largest waterfall in the world. It seems unreal: out of this world, really.

Our pilot flew masterly several times, allowing everybody to see the falls, and I felt like Jimmie Angel, the American pilot who, if not ‘discovered’ them, did help making them famous around the World.

“Salto del Hacha” and “Salto del Sapo”

During our stay in Canaima, several tours were organized. I particularly enjoyed the one which takes you to see the “Hacha” and the “Sapo” falls (falls which are close to our lodge).

The reason I really like this tour is because… you get to pass behind the Waterfall!

Yes, like a famous scene in my favourite movie, “The last of the Mohicans”, where the characters try to escape going behind a waterfall and get captured!

The experience was so cool! We had seen the most beautiful waterfalls in the world, from Iguazú to Victoria falls, or from Iceland’s Gudafoss to Niagara falls… but never been able to get soaked going under the water!!

The guides make you remove your shoes and wear socks. Socks are mandatory (for the grip, because it does get super slippery!) but surely they remind you beforehand not to forget them.

You walk over super slippery rocks, forever wet, and get soaked passing by water falling to get to a few meters behind the strong fall.

The spectacle is beautiful: you get immersed in a super loud magic world where the water falling turns into drapes of light, the light from the outside.

Walking to Angel Fall

The day after we took a local type of canoe named “curiara” for 5 hours to get to Angel Falls.

We did not spend the 5 hours straight in the canoe, but we had to walk in the jungle in some areas, because the water is too shallow and the curiara cannot pass loaded with people.

First we navigated the Carrao river, a river which is a part of the Orinoco River basin. Later we entered one of its main tributaries, the Churún river, which feeds Angel Falls, and finally we arrived at Isla Ratón.

From there we did a dificult trek of more than 2.5kms with some elevation… and finally we arrived at the feet of Angel Falls!

We were very lucky. Our small group of only 6 people was the only one in there, so we can spend a lot of time at the feet of the most impressive natural wonder.

But this wasn’t the last amazing experience we were going to have. By walking another 5 to 10 minutes, we reached the water itself.

And then we spent time bathing in it! Yes, we were literally bathing where the highest waterfall in the world was falling.

Pozo Azul

On another day we visited a nearby lagoon, the Pozo Azul or “Blue Well”, where we could enjoy its fresh water, swim, and even jump from the rocks.

Canaima is so vast, and so surprisingly beautiful, that we can stay for weeks and still wonder at a new spot, a new natural wonder.

And btw, I say that the Pozo Azul is “nearby” as it “only” took us about an hour to get there: around 20 minutes by “curiará” and then 20 minutes more walking, give or take.

After having spend 14 hours on a tour to see Angel’s Fall the day before, this seemed like “a walk in the park” 😊

🏃‍♀️ The run 🏃‍♂️

We were not sure of how much we could actually run, because when we asked our hotel about it, they told us “there are no paths to run, here”. But finally we completed a 8+ kilometres run. Which turned out to be much better than what we had expected!

From “Campamento Cainama” to Ucaima Falls

We left covered by sun blocker and with two bottles of water which we could carry. It was sunny and, from what we had seen, there were areas in the path we intended to run without shadow.

First we crossed the town next to “Campamento Canaima”, where we stayed. It’s a cute little town of red earth strees, lush vegetation around and bare houses with laundry left to dry, whose colours rival those of flowered trees.

Then we head to the Ucaima falls: the path is of the same super red earth, good for running but not for driving. There was no traffic and we only encountered a couple of motorbikes with locals carrying material, and a bunch of kids.

To “Puerto Ucaima” and back

The path has some elevation and it is not specially easy, but the view of Ucaima falls makes the effort worthwhile. To see, by ourselves, the vigorous water falling with a roar with the jungle at the riverbanks, was very special.

We continued until Ucaima’s little harbour, the one we had used to embark the “curiaras” to go to Angel Falls.

Our watches marked 1.6 kms when we reached the harbour.

And when we were there, rain started to fall. The weather here is like this: unpredictable. It stopped raining a few minutes later.

We ran another 1.6 kms back and decided to continue to the airport.

Canaima’s airport

We knew the airport as we had arrived there and boarded the plane to do the overflight over Angel Falls, and we also knew that locals drove back and forth in the path right next to the airstrip.

So we decided to run it – we had asked about its length and been told it was 1.5 kms long. In fact, according to my Garmin, it was almost 2 kms!

Close to the airport building we found an abandoned plane (not an old one, but a two engine new one) and we took some pictures, also from inside. It was a very curious thing to see: it was super destroyed!

As we were running alongside the airstrip, it started raining again. And then all we hear the characteristic noise of engines approaching from the sky… indeed, a plane was going to land!

It was super cool to be able to run a few meters away of a plane landing!

We still took some pictures of us running amongst planes and helicopters. The guards and people in the ‘terminal’, next to us, said nothing 😊

Expert runners around us

Very happy about an unexpected cool run, we returned to “Campamento Canaima”. Right there we crossed paths with William, our tour guide.

William, who led us to Angel Falls, is a very good runner and had come second in the first edition of the “Canaima Trail Run“.

Btw: We promised we would go back to Canaima one day to run this “Canaima Trail Run”!

William took us to a nearby shop that used to belong to a Spaniard, who reallocated here a few decades ago. The guy, Ricardo Jimenez, was a marathoner. And we could see pictures and a diploma of his excellent time, 3h 08m, in the London Marathon 1985!

🏃‍♀️ 8k trail route from Campamento Ucaima to the port and around the airport

🌎 Canaima National Park, Estado Bolívar, Venezuela – South America.

👟 In the jungle: bring shoes for trail running.

✅ You get to run in a most amazing setting, in the exuberant nature of Canaima’s natural park, next to waterfalls and seeing the locals go about their day, away from tourists.

✅ You get to run very close to a working airport airstrip while planes take off or land just meters away!

❌ The climate is humid and hot, the terrain has some elevation, and it can rain anytime.

“Canaima”, by Rómulo Gallegos

It was there where he acquired since he was a child and with the efficiency of a vigorous instinct applied to its own object the only knowledge that were interested. The geography of the vast region, which would later be the stage fugitive from his life as an adventurer of all adventures.

“Canaima”, by Rómulo Gallegos

Canaima is an adventure and drama novel, written by Rómulo Gallegos and published in 1935, which is set in Canaima. Although the events take place in the gold mining area of ​​El Callao and not so much aroung Angel’s Fall, the novel is perfect for reading when travelling to the jungle.