Canaima

16 Feb 2006

I last posted about 11 days ago from Ciudad Bolívar the day before I left for Canaima and Roraima. When I arrived in Ciudad Bolívar I met a guy named Akira from Japan that also wanted to go to Canaima and Roraima. We left the next day for Canaima on a single engine Cessna with two Germans and an Austrian. It was about an hour-and-a-half flight to Canaima National Park and the low altitude flight gave a great view of the tepuis (flat-top mountains) and Canaima Lagoon as we approached the park. On the way there one of the German guys leaned against the door to take a photo and it popped open! The force of the air pushed the door back (mostly) closed, but it certainly made for an interesting flight. I spent three days and two nights in Canaima. Shortly after I arrived we took a boat up river to see Salto Angel, the tallest waterfall in the world. It was a four-hour journey up river to the falls and then a one hour hike through the rainforest up to the base. Ordinarily this journey is only possible during the summer months, which is the rainy season because during the dry season the river is too low and the falls are reduced to a trickle. Now, because of changes in climate, the falls are accessible most of the year. Still the river was not that high. Our boat had to crash through rapids and over rocks while going upstream, soaking everyone onboard. After viewing the falls and swimming underneath it we spent the night at a camp across the river sleeping outside in hammocks with mosquito nets. The next day we went back down river to explore the lagoon and some of the other falls.

After returning from Canaima to Ciudad Bolívar, Akira and I got on the night bus to Santa Elena de Uairén to find a guide for our trek up Roraima. Santa Elena is near the border of Venezuela, Brazil and Guyana. Roraima is flat-top mountain called a tepui by the local Pemón indians. Tepuis are found in Guyana, Brazil and Venezuela and were formed after South America and Africa separated a few *billion *years ago. They are supposed to be some of the oldest mountains in the world.

On the bus ride we met an American couple, Nico and Lejla, that were interested to doing the trek. After getting into town the four of us found a tour company to give a guide and hire us two porters, to lug our food. Our guide’s name was Tomás. He is a Pemón and really nice guy. He told us a lot about his culture and the tribal history and its legends. The next morning when were about to leave a Preuvian guy named Báulio joined us at the last moment. Báulio lives in Cuiabá, Brail and owns a company that gives bird watching tours in the Amazon and elsewhere. The man is passionate about birds!

The trail-head is about an hour and a half ride from Santa Elena in a Pemón village whose name I cannot recall right now. As we where leaving, a huge group of Brits (30%2B, I think) were just getting back. Apparently many of them didn’t make it to the top of Roraima, even though they were carrying anything. But what they did do was exhaust most of the porters in town so Tomás told us to start and he’d find porters and meet us later at the first camp site. The first site on the Río Tek and was a pretty easy walk. We got there just before sundown and set up our tents. But while some of the other groups there were eating dinner, Tomás and the porters were nowhere to be found. Another group on the way down was kind enough to give us some leftover food while we waited. After asking some of the other porters, that had walkie-talkies, we got mixed stories that he was either drunk back in town or on his way. He showed up around 10:30, having secured only one full-time porter and another for a couple of days. We finally ate a real dinner around 11:30 after most of the other groups went to bed.

The second day was probably the hardest. It was four and a half hours of nearly non-stop uphill hiking. We had two rivers to cross, which could only be done in socks since the water since the rocks in the river bed were too slippery to do in flip-flops or barefoot. We tried both again Tomás’ advice and nearly fell in river with all our gear on our backs. At one point Nico slipped, soaked his camera and lost one of his shoes, which he had been holding in his had. Lejla chased it downriver and grabbed it just before if went over a small cascade that would have sent it much further down river. By the time we reached Base Camp that afternoon my legs we throbing. We were now in the shadows of Roraima.

Roraima is in the La Gran Sabana and as the name suggests it is mostly a grassy savannah. But the mountain itself is skirted in a lush rainforest because the weather is much diffrent on top of the mountain. Roraima is almost always shrouded in cloud and receive a lot of rain all year round. Base Camp is where the savannah ends of the forest begins.

The next morning when we set out to the top the mountain, it was totally clear. There were no clouds. We all had a fingers crossed the it would last although we were told it was unlikley. All the groups we met on their way back told us that is was cold, cloudy and rained the whole time we were on top.

A few hundred feet outside of Base Camp we crossed a small river fed by one of Roraima many waterfalls. After that we began a steep acsent the required I use hands to help pull me up. That acsent lasted about and hour until we reached the wall of the mountain. After that it was a series of ups and downs until we reached the final steep acsent though a waterfall and over trail and smaller rocks that had fallen of the mountain. Nearly each step I took caused a small rock slide. Akira was behind me and made sure to keep a safe distance.

When we got the top all was still clear. It was a beautiful day. A few clouds blew through occasionally, but it was warm and gave a great opportunity to explore the mountain. Roraima and the Tepuis in general have many species of the endemic wild and plantlife. After a while Tomás took us the one of the “hotels” where we set up our tents. The hotels are like little caves where there is reasonable shelter from the wind and rain.

The next day, day four, we a little overcast but still warm and we spent the day exploring the mountain top. They call it a flat-top mountain, but it is anything but flat. The entire suface consist if rocky outcropings that have been carved out by billions of years of water and wind. Some are more than 100 feet high and they are all pretty much accessible to climbing. That night it rained from around 1AM until sunrise. By morning it cleared up.

Our decent on day five was all the back to the camp by the Río Tek. After four days my legs we pretty tired and the decents was tough because I barely had the leg strength to stop my momentum on the way down. By the time we got back to the village on the last day, my legs were shot.

We all went back to Santa Elena that afternoon, had a nice big dinner and slept. The next day (the 15th) Nico, Lejla and Akira all went to Brazil and I took an overnight bus to Puerto La Cruz where I am now waiting for the ferry to Margarita Island where I plan to spend my last few days in Venezuela in the sun.

See some photos on Flicker. I will try to put some more up soon.