About Sapo Falls and Sapito Falls
Sapo Falls (Salto El Sapo in Spanish) and Sapito Falls (Salto El Sapito meaning “Little Sapo Falls” in Spanish) were waterfalls tumbling into a lagoon that seemed to be separate from the larger Canaima Lagoon.
Even though they were apparently on the Carrao River (El Río Carrao), this particular lagoon felt a bit more secluded and smaller than the main one.
The larger waterfall of the waterfalls (Sapo Falls; see photo above) was interesting in that it allowed us to see and feel the falls from its backside.
As a matter of fact, the trail itself passed right behind Sapo Falls as we went from one end of the wide waterfall to its other end.
We also got to cool off from the equatorial tropical heat in a large plunge pool fronting the falls.
So in addition to the waterfall’s attractiveness, it also served as a swimming hole.
Further adding to the waterfall’s allure was the presence of Sapito Falls, which sat in a lush recessed opening next to the larger Sapo Falls.
Part of the Angel Falls Experience
I have to believe that both Sapo Falls and Sapito Falls were only visited by tourists since we noticed quite a few other tour groups sharing this falls with our group.
In fact, we experienced Sapo Falls as a typical part of our itinerary for the Angel Falls experience.
Our visit was part of a side tour on the day we arrived at our camp.
Once we got to camp, we had an entire day to get oriented and relax.
Towards the late afternoon, a tour guide from our camp took us on a hike to both Sapo and Sapito falls though I don’t recall if it was scheduled or not.
Nevertheless, it really didn’t feel like we exerted ourselves much on this side tour.
I understand that the trail for this waterfall was in large part thanks to the work of Tomás Bernal who apparently built this trail.
Another interesting bit about this waterfall and its large lagoon was that the water itself had a bit of a reddish color.
Little did we know that this was going to be a common feature further along our Angel Falls trip when we saw the same red-tinted color on the Churun River deep into the river transport part of that visit.
Beyond Sapo Falls
Our hike to Sapo Falls also included a continuation of a slightly longer loop hike taking us up to its brink.
After having our fill of the far and back side of Sapo Falls, we went back through the trail along the backside of the falls before continuing the ascent up to the plateau responsible for this waterfall.
Along the way, we were even lucky enough to see an iguana resting on a rock on top of the falls.
Up at this plateau, we could see that the terrain around us largely was flat with the exception of the step that created both Sapo Falls and Sapito Falls.
I guess that would be a consistent characteristic with the tabletop mountains we saw in the distance (i.e. tepuy; albeit on a smaller scale here).
In any case, when all was said and done, we spent about 2.5 hours to take in both waterfalls, swim, the brink of Sapo Falls, the waterfall’s plateau, and take plenty of photos.
Authorities
Sapo Falls and Sapito Falls reside in Canaima National Park in the Bolivar state. To my knowledge, there doesn’t appear to be an official governmental authority directly managing Canaima National Park. For information or inquiries about the general area as well as current conditions, the closest authoritative source of information that I could find was the UNESCO World Heritage Centre website.
We saw this waterfall automatically as part of our Angel Falls tour.
For more information in partaking in the Angel Falls experience (and hence this waterfall), see the Angel Falls page.
For the manner in which we reached Canaima, we did a writeup about the logistics of our trip to Angel Falls, which you can read here.
As for geographical context, Canaima was roughly a 75- to 90-minute flight from Ciudad Bolívar or Puerto Ordaz. Both of these intermediate cities are roughly 2 hours flight from Caracas.
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Left to right sweep of the lagoon with the falls in the background and lots of people swimming in the lagoon itself
Right to left sweep of the other side of the falls
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Glad to see the falls again! (El Sapo Falls) January 6, 2009 3:16 pm - A long while ago I visited El Sapo Falls, not knowing what was in store for me, it was the most magical place and provided me with memories I will never forget. The Mosquitos were huge however and staying at Ureyen (I think thats how it is spelt) was a fantastic experience too but the… ...Read MoreVisitor Reviews of this Waterfall:
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