Niece protests Angel Falls renaming

Venezuela changes waterfall's name

The niece of explorer Jimmie Angel is upset that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez wants to change the name of the world's tallest waterfall.

Angel Falls was named after Karen Angel's uncle - a pilot who saw the Falls from his plane over 70 years ago.

Chavez wants the name to revert to the waterfalls' indiginous Indian name, Kerepakupai-Meru.

Karen Angel, who runs the Jimmie Angel Historical Project, thinks the name should remain Angel Falls.

Angel Falls is 3,212 feet high. Chavez said although Angel may have spotted it first from the air, many millions of indigenous people had seen it - and prayed to it - before that.

On the Jimmie Angel Historical Project website, Karen Angel writes: "The news... that Hugo Chavez, President of Venezuela, had renamed Angel Falls, the world's tallest waterfall, did not come as a surprise. I have known for some years that he wanted to change the waterfall's name."

A caption next to a picture of the Falls reads: 'Angel Falls / Churun-Vena / Kerepakupai Meru / Parakupa-Vena / Salto Angel - By any other name, still the world's tallest waterfall, 3,212 feet.'