Flight to the Kaieteur Falls

This morning we took a flight over the Demerara and Essequibo Rivers and hundreds of miles of unbroken tropical rainforest to land at Kaieteur Falls, the world’s highest free-falling waterfall at a height of 226 meters
Kaieteur supports a unique micro environment, with plants such as the Tank Bromeliad plant, which catches rainwater and can support a tiny golden frog. Also, a bright red bird called the cock-of-the-rock.
But the main attraction is the Kaieteur Falls, a spectacular site, five times higher than Niagara Falls, and one of the most powerful waterfalls in the world. First seen by Europeans in 1870, although it was known to indigenous people before this. There are no other falls in the world with the magnitude of the sheer drop existing at Kaieteur. Legend of the Patamona tribe has it that Kai, one of the tribe’s chiefs (after whom the falls are named), committed self-sacrifice by canoeing himself over the falls. It was believed this would encourage the Great Spirit Makonaima to save the tribe from being destroyed by the savage Caribishi.
Here, we were guided along some trails to admire the magnificent force of nature from various vantage points. Then, towards sunset returned to Georgetown.Leggi altro