There is another remarkable waterfall in Venezuela, located in the Gran Sabana area of the country. Chinak Meru Waterfall is a unique and famous waterfall in its own right. The brown tint of the water comes from tannins leached from the surrounding forests.
It is actually thundering 344 feet over the edge of a horseshoe canyon in the otherwise flat Gran Sabana; the falls establish them quite resoundingly as a major feature both from a tourism standpoint and as a geologic structure. Merú means waterfall in Pemon which is a Native American language still spoken in southern Venezuela.
The large volume of the Rio Aponwao ensures the falls retain their striking stature even during the driest of seasons when several of the taller waterfalls in the area shrivel. Although pale in comparison to South America’s other behemoth waterfalls, the combination of consistently remarkable volume dropping over a 344-foot canyon elevates this cataract to a level that isn’t seen in many other places around the world. As the Gran Sabana elevation is about 1,000 meters (3,300 Ft), the weather condition is mild with an average annual temperature of 20 °C (68 °F), like in the valley of Caracas.
This is quite a rainy area and rainfall abounds throughout the year. A few years ago some people were boating down the river from above and their outboard motor failed not far above the falls. Most of them died going over the falls. Some jumped out and were able to swim ashore before going over. The fall is gorgeous as you can see and when you’ll get very close, so you can feel all the energy.