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60 free Angel Falls trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Angel Falls trivia quiz covers the tallest uninterrupted waterfall on Earth from every angle: the numbers (979 metres in total, an 807-metre free plunge), the tepui it pours off, the national park and Venezuelan state that contain it, and the river system that eventually carries its water to the Orinoco. The easy questions are the ones any geography fan can get; from there it moves into the people who put the falls on the map. That means Jimmie Angel, the American bush pilot who flew over the falls in 1933 while hunting for ore and crash-landed his monoplane on top of the mountain four years later, then walked out with his wife over eleven days. It also means Aleksandrs Laime, the Latvian explorer who reached the base on foot and named the stream after a river back home, Ruth Robertson, the photojournalist whose 1949 expedition produced the official height, and the climbers, BASE jumpers and filmmakers who followed. Expect questions on the Pemon name Hugo Chávez wanted to restore, the South African waterfall that disputes the record, and the Pixar film whose Paradise Falls was modelled on this place. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on the falls, Auyán-tepui, Canaima National Park and the explorers involved, and each question links to the page that establishes it. Fifty-one questions, free, with an explanation after every answer.
30 of 60 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Angel Falls holds which world record?
Tallest uninterrupted waterfall
Its 979-metre total height includes about 400 metres of sloped cascade and a final 30-metre plunge below the main drop.
Q 02What is the officially quoted total height of Angel Falls in metres?
979
That works out to 3,212 feet, though the survey behind the figure was taken from a considerable distance and is still debated.
Q 03How long is the main uninterrupted plunge of Angel Falls, in metres?
807
The plunge alone is 2,648 feet, and it is this single drop, not the total height, that nobody seriously disputes.
Q 04Angel Falls lies inside which Venezuelan national park?
Canaima
The park was established in 1962 and became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994.
Q 05Which Venezuelan state contains Angel Falls?
Bolívar
Bolívar is the largest of Venezuela's 23 states by area, covering more than a quarter of the country.
Q 06Angel Falls is named after Jimmie Angel. What was he?
A U.S. aviator
The Spanish name Salto Ángel derives from his surname, not from any religious association.
Q 07In which year did Jimmie Angel first fly over the falls?
1933
The falls were not known to the outside world until that flight on 16 November.
Q 08What was Jimmie Angel searching for when he first flew over the falls?
A valuable ore bed
The tepui's own article describes him as a bush pilot searching for gold ore when the discovery happened by accident.
Q 09What went wrong when Angel tried to land on top of the tepui in October 1937?
The wheels sank into marshy ground
The touchdown itself succeeded, but the plane nose-dived when it hit soft ground at the end of its landing run.
Q 10How many days did Angel's party take to walk down off the tepui after the crash?
11
The party of four, including Angel's wife Marie, went down the gently sloping back side to the settlement of Kamarata.
Q 11What was the name of the Flamingo monoplane Angel crash-landed on the summit?
El Río Caroní
The plane was named for the river that drains the region and now supplies most of Venezuela's hydroelectric power.
Q 12For how many years did Angel's plane stay on top of the tepui before being lifted off?
33
Venezuelan military helicopters disassembled it and brought it down in 1970.
Q 13Where was Angel's restored plane put on display after its 1970 recovery from the tepui?
Outside the airport at Ciudad Bolívar
It was restored at the aviation museum in Maracay before going on outdoor display in front of the terminal at Ciudad Bolívar airport.
Q 21In which year was the face of Angel Falls first climbed to the top?
1971
Attempts in 1968 and 1969 failed on slippery rock and then on a lack of water; the successful climb ended on 13 January.
Q 22How long did the first successful ascent of the cliff face take?
Nine and a half days
Coming down was faster: the four-man team rappelled to the bottom in a day and a half.
Q 23George Bogel, who led the first ascent, was an electrical engineer from which city?
Pittsburgh
David Nott's book Angel's Four gives an account of the climb.
Q 14What happened at the falls on 2 July 1960?
Jimmie Angel's ashes were scattered
Angel died in 1956; his remains were first interred at a shrine in Burbank, California, before his family honoured his wish.
Q 15Which Latvian explorer was the first recorded European to reach the base of the falls?
Aleksandrs Laime
Local people knew him as Alejandro Laime; he later cleared the trail tourists still use to reach the foot of the falls.
Q 16Laime named the stream that feeds Angel Falls after which Latvian river?
Gauja
He announced the name on Latvian independence day in 1955 and named three other summit rivers after the Venta, Daugava and Ogre.
Q 17What is Mirador Laime?
A viewpoint on the trail to the falls
It is the spot from which most photographs of the falls are taken, on the path from the Churún River to the base.
Q 18Which American journalist financed the 1949 expedition that fixed the official height?
Ruth Robertson
Her expedition, which set out on 23 April 1949, was also the first to reach the foot of the falls.
Q 19Robertson's article on the world's highest waterfall appeared in which magazine in 1949?
National Geographic
The piece was titled "Jungle Journey to the World's Highest Waterfall" and ran in the November 1949 issue.
Q 20Robertson was earlier the first woman photographer allowed on the infield of which ballpark?
Wrigley Field
That was in 1943; the next year she was the only female photographer at both national political conventions.
Q 24What stopped the 1969 dry-season climbing attempt near the summit?
An overhang about 120 metres from the top
The climbers also ran short of water; the previous year's wet-season attempt had failed for the opposite reason, slippery rock.
Q 25Who was the first person to leap from Angel Falls, in November 1983?
Max Botto
American Jerry Bird jumped after Botto but opened his parachute later, so he actually landed first.
Q 26Paradise Falls in which Pixar film was inspired mainly by Angel Falls?
Up
Director Pete Docter and eleven Pixar artists visited the tepuis of the park in 2004 to sketch and paint.
Q 27On the Pixar research trip, Docter's team spent three days reaching which tepui?
Mount Roraima
Docter said the real rocks and plants were so strange that audiences would not have believed them on screen.
Q 28Which 2015 action remake shows characters free-climbing beside Angel Falls?
Point Break
Edgar Ramirez and Luke Bracey are shown climbing the sheer rock next to the falls and then diving from the top.
Q 29Which 1998 Robin Williams film, set in Venezuela, shows Angel Falls?
What Dreams May Come
The fantasy romance also starred Cuba Gooding Jr. and Annabella Sciorra.
Q 30Which 1990 creature feature was partly set at Angel Falls?
Arachnophobia
The film's fictional Californian town borrows the national park's name, and its jungle scenes were shot there.