October 30, 2003
New options in prehistoric Venezuela
(Associated Press, reproduced by CNN.com) - In the movie Jurassic Park, a scientist mutters in disbelief as she holds a prehistoric leaf -- until her first look at a herd of brontosauruses leaves her speechless.

No dinosaurs here. But Venezuela's expansive Gran Sabana is an awe-inspiring landscape filled with towering prehistoric rock formations, dramatic waterfalls and unique species. Its rolling highlands span 3,500 hectares (8,645 acres) across the southeast corner of Venezuela's Canaima National Park, the world's sixth-largest nature reserve.

Gran Sabana means great plain (or savanna) in Spanish, but the terrain's most famous feature is the 40 exotic flat-topped, cliff-edged mountains soaring above the lush grassland. Called "tepuis," the Pemon Indian word for mountains, the rose-colored sandstone mesas are the product of millions of years of erosion that spared only the most resilient rock.

Animal and plant life have evolved in isolation atop each tepui, and many species have kept prehistoric characteristics. Hundreds of plant species are "endemic," meaning they exist only on one tepui. The unique creatures include blind black frogs, about the size of a quarter.

The Gran Sabana's most popular attraction is Roraima, the tallest tepui at about 9,200 feet (2,800 meters). The hike to the top is tough: a minimum five-day backpacking trip from San Francisco de Yurani, a hamlet about 500 miles (800 kilometers) southeast of Caracas along Route 10, the only highway crossing the Gran Sabana.

Once there, visitors usually spend two days exploring the fog-shrouded plateau. Features include large sand patches, strangely shaped black rocks, gorges, pools, creeks, wild flower gardens -- and most famously, the tripartite border between Venezuela, Guyana and Brazil.
Since English explorers Everhard Im Thurn and Harry Perkins became the first westerners to reach Roraima's summit in 1884, hundreds of scientific expeditions have visited tepuis to investigate their vegetation and geological formations. But most of these unique tabletops remain unexplored -- unseen, even, by human eyes.

Off road
Fans of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle believe his 1912 fantasy classic, The Lost World, about dinosaur hunters on a South American jungle plateau, was inspired by Thurn's accounts of his expedition to Roraima. Aficionados consider The Lost World to be an early Jurassic Park, since its climax involves a chase by a tyrannosaurus Rex.

In addition to the tepuis, the park is home to the world's tallest waterfall -- Angel Falls, 3,200 feet high (960 meters high) -- sometimes called the "eighth wonder of the world."

Organized tours of the Gran Sabana embark from various cities around Venezuela -- including Puerto Ordaz, Ciudad Bolivar and Santa Elena de Uairena. From Santa Elena, a sleepy mining town about 30 miles (50 kilometers) from the Brazilian border, you can tour the interior from the comfort of an air-conditioned Jeep, but for the best sights, you must venture off the highway, down side roads that are rocky, unpaved and unsuitable for small vehicles.

The entrance of Canaima National Park is marked by a 230-foot (70-meter) sandstone bolder along Route 10, which runs 200 miles (316 kilometers) from the tiny mining town of El Dorado, 370 miles (600 kilometers) southeast of Caracas, to Santa Elena.

About 60 miles (100 kilometers) from El Dorado, the black "Rock of the Virgin" features a white stain that resembles a silhouette of the Virgin Mary.

For about 88 miles (140 kilometers), the highway winds up a mountainous region surrounded by thick rain forest -- then gives way suddenly to sprawling savanna and endless cloud-dotted blue sky. Patches of forest, clusters of palm trees, bromeliads and orchids adorn emerald hills. Nine rivers and hundreds of tributaries snake through the land.

Spirit tribute
Some of the rocks and minerals date back to the planet's beginning, say botanists Omaira Hokche and Leyda Rodríguez of the Venezuelan Botanical Institute. Ferns, which have existed since plants came out of the sea and took root in the earth 300 million years ago, abound.

Shortly after bursting through the rain forest, a side road leads to Kavanayen, a hamlet of about 400 Pemon Indians founded in 1942 by Capuchin missionaries. It's one of the few Pemon villages that has stone houses -- an inheritance from the missionaries -- rather than traditional adobe, thatched-roof huts.

Halfway to Kavanayen, a dusty trail leads to the 330-foot-high (100-meter-high) Aponwao waterfall, Chinak-meru by its Pemon name. During the rainy season, the cascade swells to an unforgettably deafening rush of foam.

The Pemon traditionally raise their arms when arriving at the waterfall, paying tribute to spirits and asking for the energy to carry on with their toil.

Back on the highway, it's worth stopping about 30 miles (50 kilometers) farther south, where the Kama-meru waterfall can be seen plunging 230 feet (70 meters) down a cliff. On the northeastern horizon, a cluster of tepuis -- including Roraima -- rise up in the distance. The Pemon say the cluster is home to gods.

Nearing Santa Elena, don't overlook the small Jaspe waterfall. It cascades onto a river-bottom of semiprecious jasper -- a red wonder whose shade changes depending on the sun's intensity.