Venezuela Part 2 - Roraima, The Lost World

To visit The Lost World has been my dream since I was a young lad. I red Conan Doyle’s novel The Lost World. The book was inspired by this exact location. In 1920’s there was a movie made based on this novel and again another movie in 1992. The Roraima is a flap top mountain with sheer 600m cliffs all around it. At first glance not accessible. Indigenous people never visited Roraima.  White man put his foot on top for the first time in 1956. Public thought this is another world with different species of animals or even dinosaurs including flying pterodactyls as featured in the original movie "The lost World". The scientists discovered several new species of plants and one frog unique to Roraima.

The official brochure giving detailed information about Roraima and the area.

Instead of riding to Santa Elena, we decided to take a bus - total distance 600km.
The area between Bolivar and Santa Elena is known to be the most dangerous part of Venezuela.
Besides; we had only 2 weeks before our Venezuelan visa expires. Originally Roraima wasn’t in our itinerary so we didn’t factored in an extra time necessary.

Soon after our arrival from Canaima we learned, there is an ongoing protest, blocking the road.
We were told, buses don't operate.The only way to get there is by jeep. Walk the protest section and get picked up by another jeep on the other side. Fortunately the protest stopped the next morning. Somehow we traveled by jeep anyway. Apparently buses didn’t resume their operation??

More money for tour operator. 

The cost for five day Lost World adventure was $US330 dollars. This included 2 or 3 days on top of Roraima. We learned later, there is possibility just to turn up at the village and negotiate the price directly with the guide. Word of warning; most operators will take you on board but there is at least one who won’t. I have this information from our guide Frank.

Adrian & Julius are quite exited.

......the meal features spicy sauce made of termites - the local specialty

We all set and ready to go.

Remains of the old jungle which used to cover whole area hundreds of years ago.

....obstacles we had to conquer.

At this stage I didn't know I forgot my sleeping bag.

The Roraima to the right.

Our first camp site.

The next morning we continued towards Roraima.

I was here.

We had a short brake at the foothills followed by lunch.

Going up was tough. Six hours in very rough terrain: loose rocks, climbing over the boulders, creek crossings and wet slippery clay.

Sometime was difficult to pick the right track.

Walking under the waterfall.

We were rewarded with these magnificent views.

Finally on top.

 At first the conditions were misty and wet.

.....but not for long.

The flora on Roraima is very distinctive.

We slept in this cave. I forgot my sleeping bag. Overnight the temperature dropped to about 10 degrees Celsius with some wind entering the cave. I put all my cloth on and I just managed to survive the night.

Some slept in tents.

..... and some on the ground

The next morning we were greeted with magnificent weather and clear skies. After quick breakfast we all set  for a walk around Roraima. We were led by our guide Frank. Frank is in his mid 50s , he was born in Guyana in a jungle village less than 100km away. Now he lives with his family in Bolivar Venezuela.

Frank leads groups to other parts of Venezuela too, but in his own words Roraima always had a special place in his hart. He went up this mountain hundreds of time in the period spreading over more than 20 years.

Frank our guide.

In the early morning sun

The plants are very colorful.

The top of Roraima is nearly 2800 m above the sea level.

 .................

 And more views. 

Julius - The Frenchman.

...and another magnificent nature formation - miniature waterfall

..........and from the inside

Adrian in the commanding sit again.

Sitting on top of the dinosaur's head

  

All this water is drinkable without any filtering

These ponds are called .....I forgot

Submerged bridge.

....and more unusual formations, all made of very old and hard sandstone. Black on the outside and pink when scratched.

These plants are insect eaters.

Insects are attracted with fluid at the bottom of the tube.

More ponds.

All rocks are very old and made off very hard sandstone. The weather grinds the rocks back to sand. The sand has very distinctive pink tint.

We came back to our cave for lunch and later on we set off for another walk around Roraima.

The Roraima is virtually saturated with water.....

......which feeds several waterfalls and rivers below.

 There are no fish in these ponds and hardly any insects.

In the late afternoon the clouds started to cover the top.

We had a rest in nice afternoon sun, laying on the rocks..I am the fourth from the left.

The sun was getting low adding to the majesty of this place.

The crystals are in abundance in Roraima. Often there is no choice but walk on top of them.

First explorers couldn’t find dinosaurs but there are some small animals and plants never found outside Roraima.

????????

More insect eating plants.

Because is so little soil on Roraima insect eating plants are quite common.

This little frog is perfectly camouflaged ....

.... and is unique to Roraima.

And later on we set off for another cold night.

The next day in the early morning we walked to so called "The Window".

We were rewarded with this magnificent view of the jungle. This is Guyana side.

"Living on the edge"

....... soon we started to walk back towards the entrance. Time to leave this magnificent place.

 We saw this mushroom formation two days ago, shortly after we reached the top.
Then it was surrounded by fog.

Some more unique flora.

 We are on the way down.

This is the missing link. The only access to Roraima's top.

On average these cliffs are 600m high.

Last views of the Lost World.

...... and the Mataui-Tepui to the left.

The Lost World track has become the highlight of our Venezuelan trip and the top adventure for my South American tour. Really unforgettable walk. It definitely stands up to its name - The Lost World.

Going down was tough. I was using walking sticks which definitely helped to save my knees.

After completing Roraima walk, we had only 4 days, before our visa expires. We had nearly 2000km to the Colombian border.

We fare-welled our Brazilian friends. They are on round the world trip which includes Australia.

Just over the road, Venezuelan cop hard on the job.

The next day we reached mighty Orinoco river. 

The only way to cross it is by ferry.

We were pushed by this tug boat.

 ..... and into the Orinoco sunset.

 It took about 1.5 hours to cross Orinoco River.

We arrived late at night.

We were granted permission to camp at the National Guards post.

Venezuela has an excellent pastures for cattle grazing.

We are pressing on. That day we made 820 km. The trip record.

Our campsite high in the mountains on the farmer's property.

On the way to Merida.

And the next morning we reached old colonial town Merida.

On the road again. We wanted to ride some tracks high in the mountains.

Our last campsite in Venezuela.

The next morning we rode towards the Colombian border.

Close to the border we came across huge traffic jam.

Caused by overturned truck loaded with coffee . What you do to clear the road ? Burn the coffee.

Next blog 'Back in Colombia'.