Fèlix Cardona i Puig

Fèlix Cardona i Puig (Malgrat de Mar, Maresme, February 3, 1903 – Caracas, December 5, 1982) was an explorer of the Venezuelan Guyana.

The son of Fèlix Cardona i Paradeda and Josefa Puig i Comas, Cardona was educated at the boarding school of Collell and studied later in the Nautical School of Barcelona. He finished his studies in 1922 and embarked on a ship. After a trip of practices, he stayed in Venezuela due to his interest in exploration. Later, he returned to Malgrat de Mar and founded a textile factory but had to escape to Venezuela due to economic problems.

Cardona made several expeditions, staying a long time with the natives. Together with Joan Maria Mundó i Freixas, he organised an expedition to the southwest of Venezuela starting in San Pedro de las Bocas, along the rivers Caroni and Caruao until they arrived to the Auyán-tepui, discovering the waterfall now known as Angel Falls (in honour of Jimmie Angel, but in the native tongue were designated as Churun Merú).

On January 25, 1932, Cardona married Carlot Votti ("Loti"), of Dresden, Germany. In 1937, Cardona accompanied Jimmie Angel flying over the Churún Merú. Angel later on tried to land on the top, crashing the plane, but he survived, and Cardona (who stayed in the base) came to his rescue. In 1946, he was designated a Botanic Explorer by the "Dirección de fronteras del Ministerio de Relaciones Interiores de Venezuela" (Direction of Borders of the Ministry of Inner Relations of Venezuela). Many plant species and even some animals have been named after him, for they were discovered by him. He contributed to the preparation of maps of Venezuela and made several discoveries, among them the above-mentioned Angel Falls. He died in Caracas in 1982.