Drought turns Angel Falls into a "thread of water"

Country
Angel Falls, the highest waterfall in the world located in southern Venezuela has shed up to a third of its volume of water and is nowadays a "thread of water" due to a protracted, strong drought.

Victim of the "El Niño" phenomenon, the nominee for one of the New Seven Wonders of the World, has lost over the past few months its majestic appearance and become a "small stream."

"There is no water. It is like in the middle of the wall at your place you had a thread, the same one you would use to sew clothes. This thread of water is all that is falling down," Joel Bernal, a tour guide at the Canaima National Park, located in southern Bolívar state, told Efe.

While the "dry season" covers the months of December-March, the drought which lashes Venezuela -the toughest in 45 years, according to official data- has worsened the problem.

"Every year the stream decreases during these months, but never like this year," the tour guide said.

Since last December, not a single raindrop has fallen down in Auyantepuy, the mountain, where Angel Falls are born. As a result, nearby rivers are drying up.

Thus, the only way to arrive in Angel Falls, 979 high, now is by landing on the top onboard a chopper.

Tourists would previously arrive in the waterfall through River Churún. This is unfeasible now, because the river is "totally unnavigable."

However, tourists "continue visiting the area," but some would rather wait to go "any other time," Bernal said.

The tour guides hope that it will rain in the Easter, as it is expected elsewhere in the country. The severe drought has made people ration water and electricity supply.

"At that time, we have always had rains and the river water level grows. We hope this year to be as usual," Bernal commented.

Angel Falls is a continued waterfall of 979 meters long, named after US pilot Jimmy Angel, the first one who landed in the 1920's on the tepuy where the waterfall starts, the main attraction in Canaima National Park.

Translated by Conchita Delgado