Here is a very popular photo on the Internet. You've probably already explored this place far and wide.
For some reason it seemed to me that I had already written about this place at home, but here my friend tells me - no. It turns out that it was in the last blog, but I really want to have a post dedicated to this most interesting place. Let's take another 10001 walk along this plateau with me.
I confess, when I saw this photo for the first time, it seemed to me that it was a frame from some fantastic film - this does not happen in nature. However …
The entire southeastern region of Venezuela, which is located in South America, is occupied by La Grande Sabana - the great savannah crossed by the Caroni River, the right tributary of the Orinoco. There are many extraordinary plateaus here - with steep, difficult-to-walk walls several hundred meters high, in appearance resembling huge tables. They are called “mazas”,
One of the largest "tables" - Roraima, which is near the border of Venezuela with Brazil, has long been inaccessible to people. Only brave men from the Indian tribes from time to time made their way to the enchanted, according to their beliefs, land, then telling their fellow tribesmen about the amazing plateau with steep walls, cascades of waterfalls and magical rivers with red and black waters …
The first European explorers to visit this region in the middle of the 19th century were the German scientist Robert Schombrook and the British botanist Yves Cerne. They published a report on their journey in one of the German academic journals. However, at that time he seemed to everyone, to put it mildly, incredible. And really, no one has yet seen rivers with colored water, live animals and birds that lived on our planet in the distant past, did not find a large number of plants not known to science. The microclimate of the hill was also extraordinary, according to the narratives of Schombrook and Serne: constant summer with a wonderful change of day and night. Now for several days on the plateau there was a bright sunny day, then suddenly pitch darkness began for several hours. In a word, time flowed in this place according to its own laws, not obeying earthly ones.
Promotional video:
Later, for about 100 years, none of the researchers visited this place - and this is understandable. The road here is extremely difficult: the Guiana Highlands crossed by gorges and the deep thickets of the equatorial forest that frame the Roraima Plateau made it almost inaccessible
A fresh word in the exploration of this area belongs to the Venezuelan pilot Juan Angel. In 1937, flying over the Orinoco River basin and losing his way, he noticed a river that was not marked on any map. Sticking to its current, Angel suddenly found that he was no longer flying over the plain, but into a gorge. On 2 sides it was surrounded by mountains, and there was no way to turn the plane and follow the previous course. In the end, the pilot was lucky enough to land on the plateau with inconceivable difficulty. She came out unhappy: the plane got stuck in a stagnant place, and Angel for 2 weeks then made his way from this enchanted paradise to the nearest Indian settlement. He later described his personal memories in a book that local scientists immediately ranked as science fiction.
Juan ngel died in 1956 during a plane crash, but only 10 years later his son Rolland, who believed every word written by the Pope in the book, managed to form a major expedition to those regions.
It turned out that it was not in vain that the Indians considered these lands a disastrous area: a mountainous island with an area of about 900 square kilometers. - one of the regions of thunderstorms and lightning. They hit the plateau almost every day, and there is not a single tree that has not been spoiled by lightning. In this place, by the way, the expedition discovered the greatest waterfall in the world, named after Juan Angel. It is distinguished by another original characteristic feature: traditionally waterfalls originate on rivers, but Angel Falls itself gives rise to a river! I will make a detailed post about this waterfall and show you.
What is this lost world This is what is written in the diary of the expedition: [The plateau turned out to be a monolithic rock with extraordinary outlines. In the middle of the flat surface there are hills like mushrooms, and everywhere there are peculiar depressions in the form of not very large saucers filled with water. The highest point of the plateau - a mountain with a height of 2810 meters - is separated from the rest of the terrain by deep and wide cracks, which, without having stairs at our disposal, are unrealistic to cross.
The motley fauna also turned out to be extraordinary: in addition to the possums, lizards, black toads and frogs, snakes, spiders and a large number of unusual species of butterflies already known to science, the researchers managed to find an extraordinary animal here, which they dubbed the cadboro-zavrom. It looks like a huge snake with a horse's head and humps on its back. The length of its body is approximately 15 meters. 'At this place, small frogs were also found that, like birds, hatch eggs, bats, bloodsucking insects, which are practically not affected
no chemical means of protection, highly hostile and unsafe not only for animals, but also for people, gulliver ants longer than 5 cm, able to bite small branches with their steel jaws.
But the biggest discovery was the remains of the oldest animals that lived here quite recently. As a result, it is not clear what they died. Maybe ubiquitous aliens were experimenting on them. This conjecture is not without foundation! Since not far from the waterfall, the expedition found a large round area, completely devoid of vegetation and as if sprinkled with some kind of silvery powder (laboratory studies then discovered that this is an alloy of very rare metals, which is unrealistic to obtain under terrestrial conditions).
Surveys of local caves also gave scientists a lot of mysteries. They discovered a lot of rock carvings professionally depicting unusual animals and creatures vaguely resembling people. Scientists have also discovered a number of crypts in which a fog seemed to thicken and a sweet smell flew. Several members
the expeditions, having breathed this aroma, spent several days in a coma, later telling their colleagues about the amazing visions and wanderings to other worlds. In the end, it was decided to return back, and then the brave explorers were in for a new surprise: they in no way had the opportunity to get out of this lost world. The radios broke down a long time ago, the landscape, the map of which was made by travelers, seemed to have changed the outlines and the cardinal points … Roraima did not let go of those who learned her secrets.
Only a few months later, exhausted by the search for a way out, people managed to return home. According to them, [some unknown force, like a whirlwind, caught us and slowly lowered us in the central square of one of the Indian settlements.” By that time, the members of the expedition had run out of food, their clothes had become unusable, almost all were on the verge of nervous exhaustion.
When the travelers finally managed to get to civilization, it turned out that their families had buried them long ago: after all, the expedition did not return after the planned several months of work and, according to earthly reckoning, had been absent for 4 years!
There were no more official expeditions to the region. However, from time to time, brave men try to get into this lost world, where, as a rule, they find their death: Plateau does not like to let go of their victims.
Let's climb the mountain together with Vladimir Dinets.
The heroes of The Lost World reached the summit plateau, climbing a freestanding cliff and chopping down a large tree that served as a bridge. Roraima does have a "suitable" cliff, but the gap between it and the plateau is too wide, and there are no large trees at that height. Climbing the mountain without the help of climbing equipment is possible only in one place, along a narrow sloping ledge called "Rampa".
Nowadays, several dozen people a day climb to Roraima. This is a part of the national park, and climbing is allowed only with a guide.
The capybara is the largest rodent.
Almost all tourists buy organized tours lasting five or seven days (the second option is much better - participants in five-day tours can spend only a couple of hours on the plateau).
Bats in a national park, Venezuela.
In the Venezuelan town of Santa Elena de Weyren on the Brazilian border (which can be reached in a day by evening bus from Caracas) a seven-day tour costs about a hundred dollars, in Caracas - about three hundred. You are given a warm sleeping bag and sweater.
Porters carry food and tents, prepare food and bring down tourists who are sick or injured (which is not uncommon). You carry your personal equipment yourself. Almost all of the guides and carriers are Pemon Indians.
Our guide during the ascent.
They are usually fluent in Spanish, but if you need an English-speaking guide, you need to arrange this in advance. Like most Selva Indians, pemon are calm, friendly, very pleasant people to talk to. Male porters carry 50 kg of cargo, women - 40 kg. Children start helping their parents from about six years old.
The trail to Roraima begins in the Indian village of Paratepui. On the first day, you walk about 20 km along the mountain steppes, with two fords across the rivers (after a heavy rain, fords can be somewhat difficult for inexperienced travelers). There are three campgrounds along the trail. Sunblock and midge repellent will come in handy in this area.
Lonely church at the beginning of the road, Venezuela.
On the second day, the trail climbs to the foot of the Roraima rock walls. The so-called cloud forests grow here - dense thickets of low-growing trees, completely overgrown with moss, ferns and epiphytic plants.
Cloud forest, Roraima.
The cloud forests are full of beautiful birds, including hummingbirds and bright orange rock cockerels. Tree ferns and gunners grow along the trail - something like burdocks with three-meter leaves.
Goatzins, Roraima.
The ascent itself takes the entire third day. The trail is almost vertical in places and very slippery - you need reliable shoes. In some places you have to go through waterfalls.
The Roraima Plateau trail runs through the waterfalls.
The higher, the colder and more humid the air becomes. On the plateau itself, it can rain for several days in a row, and sometimes the sun does not show through the fog for months. In the morning, the temperature drops to almost zero. During the rainy season (May-October), you risk not seeing anything at all except fog, but at this time there are fewer people and much more flowers, especially orchids.
Venezuelan orchids.
Many birds nest in the niches and crevices of the cliffs. Thousands of swifts and tiny parrots scatter through the surrounding forests every morning. At nightfall, strange nocturnal guajaro birds fly out of the caves.
At the very edge of the Roraima plateau.
The trail reaches the edge of the plateau only half an hour's walk from the large pile of boulders at the very edge of the cliff. This is the highest point of Roraima.
Boulders at the edge of the cliff.
Here you can sit alone for hours with your legs dangling into the abyss and watching the clouds rise to you from the warm plains. When the wind blows clouds of fog into your face, it seems that you are rapidly flying through the clouds. Occasionally the fog clears and you see rolling plains, the neighboring Kukenan Tepuis streaked with waterfalls, and the rectangular silhouettes of other tepuis on the horizon. And behind you lies a plateau - one of the most fantastic places in the world.
Fantastic view from the top, Roraima.
From below it seems that it is completely even. In fact, it is a chaotic jumble of rocks, canyons, steep hills and rocky placers. Almost the entire surface of the plateau is completely black from the "desert tan" and microscopic algae living in the upper layer of the stone.
The black surface of the Roraima plateau.
Only where the sandstone is protected from rain and sun or is constantly washed out by water is its true color visible, usually bright pink.
Different layers of sandstone are destroyed at different rates, so thousands of bizarre rocks have formed on the plateau - thickets of giant "mushrooms", palisades of five-meter stone phalluses, fabulous castles, endless fields of "chess pieces". There are so many of them that it is not possible to use them as signs or landmarks.
Roraima's whimsical rocks.
It is very easy to get lost on the plateau, especially in the fog. In the northwestern part, there is the so-called Labyrinth, where even the guides are afraid to enter. In some places, the stone is split by giant cracks - rivers disappear into them, only to then burst out of the rocks in a waterfall hundreds of meters below the edge of the plateau.
About a fifth of the plateau is covered with water. Bright pink puddles, peat bogs, the cleanest lakes in the world, fast rivers … You have to get used to your knee-wet feet. The channels of some rivers for hundreds of meters are lined with crystals of rock crystal.
Rivers rush out in waterfalls below the edge of the plateau.
There is also a "jacuzzi" - oval baths with a crystal bottom, as if specially created for bathing. Guides do swim in them, but most tourists find the water too cold.
Natural * Jacuzzi *.
Peat bogs are especially interesting. These are the brightest corners of the plateau - there is an amazing amount of beautiful flowers, multi-colored carpets of mosses and lyes, dense thickets of insectivorous plants and orchids.
Walking on them is somewhat tiring, but not dangerous - under the layer of peat, almost everywhere there is hard sandstone. There are few trees on the plateau, and they look like bonsai, and the whole plateau sometimes looks like a giant Japanese garden.
Plaunas on the Roraima plateau.
But there are few animals. The largest are funny noses, akin to raccoons. Almost all small fauna are endemic, found only on the tops of the tepui or generally only on Roraima.
Lizard, Roraima.
Many are black, even butterflies and dragonflies. On the plateau there are also mice, several species of birds, lizards, milipedes, spiders, scorpions and predatory leeches, but no fish, snakes, mosquitoes and midges.
Mouse on a plateau.
And the most interesting inhabitants of the plateau are tiny, with a nail in size, black toads. They live on flat rocks and whistle funny before the rain. Each large tepui has its own special kind of these toads. They are very ancient (the guidebooks even say that they are older than dinosaurs, but this is, to put it mildly, an exaggeration).
Small black toad, Roraima plateau.
Tourist groups spend the night in so-called "hotels" - in narrow areas sheltered from the rain under overhanging rocks.
One of the stops of the tourist group.
Some "hotels" offer a completely unearthly view, albeit very gloomy.
* Hotel * in the rocks.
The standard 7-day tour only covers the southwest of the plateau. Other parts can be reached either with a ten-day tour (but these are rare), or by yourself. Self-climbing is not only illegal, but also very risky: people on Roraima disappear every year.
Breathtaking views from Roraima.
Although the plateau area is only 84 square kilometers, it is not easy to get around it completely in a week. Long-distance tourist routes end at the "triple point" - at the stone pyramid, which marks the junction of the borders of the three countries. If you do manage to go even further, you will see Lake Gladys, the largest on the plateau (about a hundred meters long), named after the plesiosaur lake from The Lost World.
Roraima is one of the most impressive places on the planet.
Lake Gladys is half overgrown with sedge and is not worth the risky hike on your own. But another kilometer or two, and you come out to a completely striking place called the Nose of the Ship. This is the northern tip of Roraima, where the plateau ends with a narrow, very sharp ledge, on both sides of which there are 800-meter cliffs. A few minutes spent on the Nose among the torn clouds flying towards them is perhaps one of the most powerful sensations available to the inhabitants of our planet.
In 2006, Gryphon Productions filmed a two-hour documentary, The Real Lost World, about Mount Roraima. It has been featured on AnimalPlanet, DiscoveryHDTheater and OLN (Canada). The film was directed by Peter von Puttkamer. A team of researchers took part in this journey: Rick West, Dr. Hazel Barton, Seth Heald, Dean Harrison and Peter Sprouse.
They followed in the footsteps of British explorers Im Thurn and Harry Perkins, who studied flora and fauna on Mount Roraima in the mid-19th century. These adventures of scientists were inspired by the book "The Lost World" by Arthur Conan Doyle, published in 1912, which tells about people and dinosaurs.
In 2006, a film crew and a team of scientists first studied the Roraima Caves, which were recently discovered. In the middle of an ancient cave that was formed about 2 billion years ago, people discovered a very intriguing carrot-shaped formation. In 2007, Dr. Hazel Barton returned here on an expedition funded by NASA (NASA) to study the "vegetation" on the ceiling and walls of the cave. This was evidence of the existence of extremophilic bacteria that destroyed walls, leaving dust on ancient spider webs. This is how these unique stalactite figures were formed. They could help answer the question of how life is formed and proceeds on other planets.
In 2009, Mount Roraima was the setting for the Disney / Pixar cartoon "Up". The cartoon disc also contains a short film called "Adventure Is Out There". He talks about the journey of the Pixar production team to Mount Roraima in search of inspiration and creative ideas for the animated film Up.
Despite the steep slopes of the plateau, Roraima was the first of the tepui that man could climb. Sir Everard im Thurn in December 1884 climbed the slope, which was covered with forests, and reached the top of the mountain. Modern travelers also take this route.
Today, Mount Roraima attracts tourists from all over the world. Almost everyone who wishes to visit this place must enter from the Venezuelan side. Most tourists are hired as a guide by an Indian from the Pemon tribe, who lives in the village of Paraitepui. To find it, you need to turn off the main road of Gran Sabana onto the dirt road, which is located in the middle of the 88th kilometer and Santa Elena de Uairen.
Despite the fact that the plateau can be reached by a paved path, it is very easy to get lost on the top of Roraima due to the constant cloudiness. Paraitepui can be reached by ATV, it will be a little more difficult by car, but provided that the dirt roads are not washed out, and in a day you can walk on foot.
It also takes a whole day from Paraitepui to the foot of the mountain, and then another day to reach “La Rampa” - a trail that leads to the top. Descent from the mountain takes about two days. Many tourists prefer to stay overnight at the summit. On average, the trip to Mount Roraima takes about five days. To visit the northern part of the tepui with little-studied but intriguing views, you need to go a longer and more dangerous path. You can also get to the mountain by helicopter, but in good weather. The tour can be booked in the town of Santa Elena de Uairén.
If you follow the Paratepu route, you can climb to the top of the mountain without additional technical means. To follow a different path, you need to use climbing equipment. Only a few times I managed to climb the mountain from Guyana and Brazil. This path is very difficult and dangerous, since the mountain is completely surrounded on these two sides, mainly by huge sheer cliffs. But in addition to technical equipment, you must also obtain a special permit, which will allow you to enter the territory of the national park in Guyana and Brazil. As of 2009, the ascent from the Brazilian side is very problematic, as the path leads through the Raposa-Serra do Sol Amerindian reserve, where armed conflicts between the indigenous population and the authorities often occur.
Tepui or Tepui are mesas located in the Guiana Highlands in South America, mostly in Venezuela. Among the most famous tepui are Autana, Auyantepui and Mount Roraima. Many tepui are located in the Venezuelan Canaima National Park, which has UNESCO World Heritage Site status.
The word "tepui" in the language of the Pemon Indians inhabiting the Gran Sabana region means "home of the gods." Tepui for the most part stand isolated from each other, towering over the jungle with hard-to-reach cliffs, which makes them carriers of unique sets of endemic plants and animals.
Tepuis are the remnants of a vast plateau that once stretched from the Atlantic coast and bordering the Amazon, Orinoco and Rio Negro basins. The plateau was formed on the site of the lake about 200 million years ago, when South America and Africa were still a single continent.
The plateau consisted of sandstone and was located on a granite base; over time, erosion turned the plateau into several monadnoks, from which tepuis were formed, covered with erosion-resistant rocks.
Typically, tepuis are composed of a single block of Precambrian sandstone or quartzite that soars sharply above the surrounding jungle to heights of more than 2000 m. Many tepuis have water-washed caves, such as Abismo Guy Collet Cave, which 671 m, as well as karst sinkholes up to 300 m in diameter, formed during the collapse of the arches of the tunnels of underground rivers.
German explorer Robert Schomburgk visited the area in 1835. He was struck by the mesas, but attempts to climb one of them were unsuccessful. Only almost half a century later, in 1884, a British expedition led by Everard Im Turn managed to climb to the top of Mount Roraima. However, it was the report of Robert Schomburgk's expedition to the tepui region that inspired the writer Arthur Conan Doyle to write the novel The Lost World about the discovery of a plateau inhabited by prehistoric species of animals and plants.
Many tepuis have sinkholes up to 300 m in diameter, formed by the collapse of underground river tunnels, and water-washed caves such as Abismo Guy Collet, 671 m deep.
Auyantepui is the largest of the tepuis, with a surface area of 700 square meters. km. Angel falls from this mountain - the highest waterfall in the world, the total height of which is 979 meters, the height of the continuous fall is 807 meters.
Autana tepui rises 1300 m above the forest and is pierced by a cave that runs from one side to the other.