LatinWorld Magazine: Land of Tepuis

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Page 5

At my arrival at Porlamar’s International airport, I was met by an enthusiastic tour guide named Marbella. She graciously introduced herself and informed me that she is my guide and I her shadow! I checked in my only carry-on suitcase, one that I never let out of my sight. We reviewed my schedule briefly and met a new group consisting of 18 French and Spanish nationals. We depart aboard another Dash-7, this time heading South over a wondrous landscape. Gently gliding over the deep blue Caribbean, then abruptly clashing onto magnificently blackened,

sculptured mountain summits which gently lead down to curving rivers that guide us into lowlands and tropical forests. After passing the great Orinoco River, the terrain changes drastically once more. Staring out my window, on the horizon I see what I came for, an enormous sandstone mesa, or tepui. Jutting upward to 9,094 feet (2,772 meters), Mt. Roraima (the tallest of the group) soars above the surrounding savanna like the walls of a mighty castle. My heart races. I know we have finally arrived in the land of over one hundred such tepuis, half still unexplored, scattered over an area of some 200,000 square miles (500,000 square kilometers).

We swoop our way toward the Roraima group, diving down into Devil’s Canyon as we gaze out our windows at Angel Falls (Kerepacupai-meru), the world highest waterfall. Its prisomed sprays launch a magnificent rainbow across its pure quartz sides. Its waters are said to never to make it back to Earth, but evaporate and feed the endless cloud formations that perpetually rain down on these grand plateaus.

We make several slow passes, then glide closely over Churun Falls (churun-meru), then hang a sharp right turn over Jimmy Angel’s Landing site, and continue over Ahonda Canyon to "El valle de las Mil Columnas" -the valley of a thousand columns. Looking across at the pinnacles and rock towers, it resembles a massive city skyline seen at rooftop level.

We begin our descent following the Carrao River, passing Tepochi-Tepui and skimming over Mayupa Rapids towards the tourist center of Canaima. We touch down, gasping with wonder, stunned at the enormity of our visual experience. I am here to connect with a smaller aircraft that will continue on to the Jungle Camp Arekuna. After deplaning, my guide, Marbella checks us in. 15 minutes later we board our US built 12 passenger Cessna Grand Caravan, single engine turboprop plane, and proceed Northeast around the Western side of the Auyan-Tepui, following the Caroni River onward towards the park’s boundaries. Twenty five minutes later, we approach a gravel runway; in the distance, on a hill, are a group of bungalows spider webbed with pathways.