Visit Venezuela and Take Trips to Angel Falls, Canaima, and Los Roques National Park in the Caribbean Sea

Venezuela has an awful lot of pilots. I found this out when I spent a few weeks on holiday there some years ago. Almost everyone I chatted to seemed to have a husband, brother or son who was a pilot. Made sense because they also have a large country and a lot of petrol. Anyway, these circumstances mean that taking flights in and around Venezuela is easy, comfortable and not too pricey - flying is an easy way to see the sights.

And the sights are spectacularly worth seeing.

Venezuela offers amazingly rich and varied physical landscape: Caribbean coast with long sandy beaches; blissful offshore islands; the "Lost World" of majestic prehistoric flat-topped tepuis; the vast Orinoco river and delta; jungle; savannah; Amazonas; the Andes; Caracas and more.

When Christopher Columbus first saw the Orinoco RIver in 1498 he said it must flow from Eden. Native Americans had already been living in that Eden for 10,000 years and their subsequent fate at the hands of the Spanish and Germans is as terrible as it is compelling. Later, in the 19th century and led by Simon Bolivar, the people of a unified Venezuela would fight for independence from the Spanish.

Venezuela's history has produced a society and culture as varied and complex as the country's landscape. The population is young, pleasure-seeking and outgoing. Venezuelans love to party and they love their beer and whisky. They're also famed for their beauty with Venezuela winning more Miss World contests than any other nation. In my experience, the beauty of young Venezuelan men and women - in the street, on the beach - was exceptional.

As far as seeing the country goes, you're very spoilt for choice in Venezuela. Whether you want to explore jungle, hike up into the icy mountains, swim in pale blue crystal waters, take a river trip in a dug-out canoe avoiding snappy crocodiles, see massive electric-blue butterflies in cloud forest or laze on the beach, you can do it here.

But in case your time in Venezuela is limited, the following are two personal recommendations: Two Sights Not To Miss.

Firstly, there's the world's highest waterfall, Angel Falls, in Canaima National Park. Fifteen times higher than Niagara Falls, this is an absolute, unconditional Must See. Even more so because you fly past the Falls at very close quarters in a tiny plane with just about half a dozen others. From that dizzy vantage point you also get a breathtaking, wide view of the tepui tops with their strange atmosphere and unique vegetation.
The plane Jimmy Angel abandoned up there before his 11-day descent from the tepuis is now sited at Ciudad Bolivar airport but you'll spot the replica put there for posterity.

On the same trip you'll take a boat on Canaima's wide lagoon into which pour the roaring Hacha Falls. Careful if you swim here - there are pirhana in the water! But just look up and you have the astounding backdrop of the tepuis. Lunch is served in a jungle lodge and later you'll get to walk in the jungle and along rocky paths right behind one of the park's many waterfalls.

This day trip, like all day trips in Venezuela, is easily booked while you're on holiday at one of the many tour and travel agencies in good hotels.

The second day trip to take is out of Venezuela to Los Roques National Park in the beautiful Caribbean sea. This is a mindblowing remote archipelago with the most pristine sand and water imaginable. A marine preserve and wildlife sanctuary, Los Roques really is like paradise on earth. Flying in, again in a tiny plane piloted by two of Venezuela's ubiquitous pilots, you see the palest turquoise seas, shallow around the pure white sand of the tiny cayos. This is alandscape populated by turtles and iguanas, a sea thronging with rainbow-coloured fish and coral. Snorkelling here is heavenly. But watch out for the fierce sun - gorgeous as it is to swim in these waters there is virtually no shade. Nor is there any fresh water - it all has to be brought in or desalinated. You eat lunch at the archipelago's only permanent settlement on Gran Roque, which is a mere 2 miles long. Lunch, inevitably, is a large grilled fish caught the same morning.
A day at Los Roques is like a day lost on a heavenly desert island. Trips here have been strictly controlled and limited in the past. Hopefully that approach will continue, to protect this very precious marine environment.

It's certain there are many other fabulous places to explore during a holiday in Venezuela. But travelling to Angel Falls and Los Roques are two wonderful experiences you will never forget.