Trip to The Lost World – Mount Roraima

Trip to The Lost World – Mount Roraima

Many of us had a question in our minds that where the hollywood blockbuster “The Lost World” had filmed. British Everard Im Thurn and Harry Perkins were the first explorers to ascend the RORAIMA in 1884 from the Guyana side. Upon returning, their scientific conference in London inspired Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to write the science fiction classic “The Lost World“. Mount Roraima is one of the most attractive sight in South America.

About Mount Roraima

Mount Roraima is also one of the biggest flat mountain.The tepuys are regarded as ‘islands in time’ by scientists since species have developed in complete isolation on top of them over milennia. The largest tepuy is Auyan, located to the northwest of the park. From its vertical flanks chutes the amazing Angel Falls, the world’s highest waterfall. Although impressive, in fact, after the rains all the region’s tepuys are threaded with waterfalls – a beautiful sight for any visitor.

Many of the tepuys are studded with enormous sink-holes, up to 1000 feet wide and 1000 feet deep, which are unique to the region. Like the tepuys themselves, each of these sink-holes are “islands” and have evolved species of amphibians and insects that are not found anywhere else.

Climbing Mount Roraima

This lightly populated region is where the three major languages of the Americas intersect with the magnificent table top mountain of Mount Roraima at their center. Here we can interact with the Espanol of Venezuela, the Portuguese of Brazil and the English of Guyana.

To climb Mount Roraima you must hire a guide. Independent hiking is not allowed . Except to get wet during dry season. At the top of Mount Roraima is very cold. Dont forget to get a sleeping beg. Crossing Rio Kukenan is not for everyone. Good shoes are most important.

Accomodation

Santa Elena de Uairén

hotelgransabana.com [58 rooms] Carretera Nacional vía Brasil, Santa Elena de Uairén, Estado Bolívar, Venezuela.  Phone.: (+58) 289 – 9951810 – 9951811 – 9951812 – Fax: 289 – 9951813 five minutes from the airport. Ten minutes away from the Brazilian border, great swimming pool

lagransabana.com/hoteles.htm Find telephone & address for 24 places to stay!

La Casa de Gladys,  popular with backpackers

La Posada de Michelle

Hotel Michelle, Calle Urdaneta Santa Elena de Uairen “Brilliant location with low cost restaurants nearby as well as various tour companies and facilities. Much better than expected from the low prices!!….. “Brand-new with 18 rooms, laundry, kitchen, call-service and much more. The best place in Santa Elena for Backpackers! Swiss manager speaks english, spanish, german and french

Camp: Ya – Koo  6 cabins that combine modern and traditional construction,  14 rooms with private bathroom, hot water, porch. The comfortable ecotourist  cam is in the hills overlooking the town of Santa Elena and the surrounding Rio Uairen valley. GETTING THERE: 3 km. from Santa Elena de Uairén, on the way toward Sampay. From Santa Elena de Uairén, follow the street which goes to the Centro Frutícola, then take the dirt road to the camp

Weather Conditions at Mount Roraima

On top of the tepuis, thunderstorms are frequent and torrential downpours are a way of life. The dry season between December and April is preferred but  the weather is changeable at any time, and rain and mist are a constant. With rain, the rivers swell and crossing may be difficult.
Because of its elevation, the weather in the Gran Sabana is more temperate than the surrounding lowlands, a minimum of 10°C (46°F) and maximum of 32°C (90°F).The village ofSanta Elena de Uairenis at an altitude of  900m – 1000m (3000f – 3250f) with a nearly perfect climate (16°C / 45°F – 28°C / 79°F all year round).   Lots of water, gorgeous waterfalls: the rainy season extends from February to November

Other villages

Other villages in the region include San Francisco de Yuruani (close to the turn-off to Roraima Tepuy), Kavanayen, El Pauji, and Icabaru. There are small airstrips at Santa Elena, El Pauji, Ikabaru, Wonken, Kavanayen, Kamarata and Canaima. These are served by six-seater small planes. These flights are less than you might expect, about $50-60 per leg, and offer an incredible way to see the Sabana. There are small airstrips at Santa Elena, El Pauji, Ikabaru, Wonken, Kavanayen, Kamarata and Canaima.  Two roads split from the main north-south highway, allowing one to penetrate other parts of the region. One heads to the mission of Kavanayen, via the lovely waterfalls of Chinak Meru. Another heads west from Santa Elena to the small and interesting village of El Pauji and on to the mining town of Icabaru.

El Paulji  Pauji is a unique border town where the Gran Sabana ends and the Amazonian jungle beginsThe  mining [low-tech subsistence gold and diamonds ] and tourist community has attractions like Cathedral falls, Pozo Esmeralda (Esmerald Pool), Pozo El Paují (Paují Pool), the Abismo overlookand many places to stay. This special place is surrounded by evergreen and gallery forest, bush and savannah and an endless number of rivers, ravines and waterfalls. Many artists have settled here forming a strong community in harmony with nature. GETTING THERE: you can best get to on a 20 minuteflight on Rutaca from Santa Elenas airport. The road can be terrible but continues as far as Icabarú. Only for 4-wheel-drive vehicles.  Pauji || Places to Stay in Pauji by thelostworld.org

Kavak can only be reached by air or guided tour through the jungle.  It is near spectacular falls and rivers.

Las Caritas a  mining town with spacious green areas extending to a great forest. Located very near the Gran Sabana, it’s a good departure spot for excursions with visitor infrastructure, places to stay, Aponwao waterfall.

El Callao The best place to explore the mining treasures of the zone. Gold trading and goldsmiths  are principally concentrated here. Also home of Venezuela’s most famous Carnaval, over a century old and based on the Caribbean Carnival traditions brought by early gold miners from Trinidad and Martinique.

Travel Experience at Mount Roraima

Once we’d reached the summit there was barely a pause for breath or photos as we made the painful 40 minute walk to the camp site.

Contrary to our expectations the top was far from flat, with strange shapes eroded by both wind and water forming peaks and troughs, the latter occasionally filled to become streams. The single narrow path over the soft rock was clearly marked by lines of sand worn away by years of weary hikers. Much unwanted walking and climbing later we reached the camp-site, a cave system in the side of a smaller peak.

Tents and beds sorted we heard the porters call us for dinner. Our celebration of climbing a mountain was somewhat tempered by receiving a thin soup of pasta and onions. Assuming this was a starter I limited myself to one small bowl only to discover that that was the entire meal. Time to break out the emergency snack supplies: a pack of Oreos between the six of us and the three porters was only a couple each, but still enough to bring us back to the land of the living. Revitalised we walked to the edge of the mountain to dangle our legs over the 2km sheer face and watch the sunset over Venezuela.

Finding our way back across the uneven ground was somewhat trickier in the dark and with little else to do most people turned in at 7pm. This left me alone with the porters who talked me through the spectacularly clear view of the stars.

An early start the following morning saw us split into two groups. Those who wanted to walk 9 hours to the tri-point, the meeting place of Brazil, Venezuela and Guyana, and those of us, myself included who wanted to see everything else the mountain had to offer.

Over the next nine hours we saw a number of spectacles:
The Crystal Valley – pretty, but not the expected 6ft shards of crystal we’d seen in films like The Lost World or Journey to The Centre Of The Earth
The Rivers and Lakes – being way above the clouds the water reflected the clear blue sky
The Jacuzzis – bath shaped holes in the river bed, filled with crystals. We stopped here to wash in near freezing water and dry off in the sun.
Carnivorous Pitcher Plants – these trap insects in their wells and slowly digest them for food
Tiny black frogs – in such isolation these have evolved away from frogs and now run about on all four legs rather than hop.
The Window – more of a ledge than a window, this spectacular spot made the whole climb worthwhile. From here it was possible to lay on the edge and look down a 2000m drop to the jungle below. Ledges on both sides of the outcrop let you feel you were hovering over the jungles of either Brazil or Guyana, all the while providing views above the clouds of the next three tepuys. - by Steve (source - http://yourenotfromaroundhere.com)

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