Canaima

Canaima National Park covers roughly 30,000 km² — about the size of Belgium — and contains the highest waterfall on earth, one of the world's oldest geological formations, and a Pemón indigenous culture that has inhabited this landscape for centuries. The Gran Sabana is the open savanna region within the park's southeastern portion, a separate area reached overland from Santa Elena de Uairén rather than from the Canaima lagoon. The park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and one of the few places on earth that justifies the description "otherworldly." Salto Angel has a total height of 979 metres off the edge of Auyán-tepui — the largest of the region's flat-topped sandstone mountains — including a single clear, uninterrupted plunge of roughly 807 metres. The falls are best visited from June a November when water flow is highest; the dry season (January to May) offers clearer skies but a thinner cascade. Canaima lagoon is the base camp: a pink-tinted lake fed by tannin-rich rivers, flanked by smaller waterfalls you can swim behind, and ringed by posadas and Pemón craft stalls. Access is by small plane only — no road connects Canaima to the outside world.