Salto Aponwao is one of the most photogenic falls in the Gran Sabana, a 109-metre single drop in a wide bend of the Aponwao River. Reaching it involves a short overland trip from the village of Iboribó, where Pemón guides take you across the river by curiara — a dugout canoe — to the viewpoint above the falls.
The setting is what makes it: vast open savanna, a horseshoe of cliffs, the distant flat outlines of tepuis on the horizon. In rainy season the falls are thunderous. The trip is usually done as a day excursion from Santa Elena and combined with a stop at one of the other roadside cascades.