The Guiana Plateau in South America has mountains with a truncated, flat top. They are called tepui.
The word "tepui" in the language of the Pemon Indians, indigenous to Venezuela, Brazil and Guyana, means "home of the gods." Having seen these inaccessible mountains, which stand isolated from each other and rise 2 kilometers above the jungle, it is easy to believe in any myths and legends, even in our time.
Tepui is the remains of a giant plateau that in prehistoric times stretched from the Atlantic to the Amazon, Orinoco and Rio Negro rivers. Scientists believe that they appeared 200 million years ago on the site of the lake, when South America and Africa were another continent.
Tepui are composed of sandstone or quartzite. In many of them, entire caves and giant sinkholes have been washed away by water. The Mesa Mountains are so fantastic that they inspire artists, writers and filmmakers to create many works.
It was reports of 19th century expeditions to the Tepui region that inspired Arthur Conan Doyle to write The Lost World. It deals with the discovery of a plateau inhabited by prehistoric species of animals and plants.
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Tepui indeed "keep" many endemic plant and animal species. That is why they are also called "ecological islands".
One of the most famous tepui is Mount Roraima, located in the Canaima National Park in southeastern Venezuela. Its height is 2723 m above sea level. In the region of the mountain, the rivers of the Orinoco, Amazon and Essequibo basins originate.
The largest of the tepui is called Auyan-Tepui. The surface area of its plateau is 700 square kilometers. The highest waterfall in the world, Angel Falls, with a height of 979 m, falls from this mountain.
But the tepui of Cerro-Sarisarinyama is known for being penetrated by round craters with a depth and diameter of about 350 m. Unique plants grow at their bottom.
