El Dorado Falls

Cachoeira do El Dorado drops about three hundred and fifty-three metres off the Serra do Araca, a sandstone tepui in northern Amazonas, which makes it the tallest waterfall in Brazil - and almost nobody has stood at the bottom of it. It was not recorded by outsiders until 1962 and remains among the least-visited major falls anywhere, because reaching it means days up the Rio Araca from Barcelos by boat and then a trek onto the massif with everything carried. The Serra do Araca is a state park of sandstone plateau, blackwater streams and vegetation related to the Venezuelan tepuis rather than to the surrounding lowland forest, so the plants on top include endemics found nowhere else. Expeditions run rarely and need permits, guides and real logistics.

What you actually see

• Brazil's tallest waterfall - about 353 metres off the edge of the tepui.
• A tepui plateau - sandstone with vegetation related to the Venezuelan tabletops.
• Almost no visitors - unrecorded until 1962 and still an expedition destination.
• Blackwater streams - the Araca system draining the massif.

When to go

The drier window, roughly October to February. Ten days.

Honest expectations

This is a genuine expedition, not a trip: days of river travel, permits, guides and self-sufficiency. There is no infrastructure of any kind. Very few operators run it and prices reflect that.

Nearby

Barcelos on the Rio Negro is the staging town; Jau National Park is south.