CANAIMA

One of the largest parks in the world, Venezuela’s Canaima National Park is more than three times the size of Yellowstone and ten times the size of Yosemite, encompassing almost 12,000 square miles of tropical jungle, rivers and savannah. The park is located in Venezuela's Guayana region, south of the Orinoco River, in the Gran Sabana Autonomous Municipality and the Sifontes Municipality of Bolívar State.

Canaima National Park is truly one of the world's greatest natural wonders. It is crossed by huge rapids as well as slow, majestic rivers, which flow in marked contrast to thick jungle of this paradise, reflecting the variety of green hues as they blend with the water. In the plains, the rivers weave across the open grasslands, interrupting their course at any of the many indescribable waterfalls that are a common feature of Guayana.

The rolling scenery meets the legendary "tepuys" (table-top mountains), transporting the spectator back over thousands of years and showing the Earth's physiochronology as if in an open book. Exuberant wildlife and flowers join in a polychromatic concert of living beings, with intense colour and light in harmonious natural surroundings. This daily spectacle includes jungles, forest, grasslands, mountains, strong winds and torrential rains, which give way to wide, blue skies.

Canaima National Park has valleys as low as 400m above sea level, while some 'tepuys' rise to over 2,400m above sea level. Roraima, for example, has an altitude of 2,763m at its table-top.

The park’s main destination for visitors is Laguna Canaima, one of the most beautiful places in Venezuela. Located on a wide, peaceful stretch of the Rio Carrao, a series of broad cascading waterfalls pour into the tranquil lagoon. The comfortable lodges, great food, and fantastic scenery make Laguna Canaima a great place to relax, boat, and hike, including one trail which leads behind a waterfall.

A short walk takes you to a Pemón Indian village. Laguna Canaima is also the starting place for the fly-over and boat trips to Angel Falls. Silhouetted against the blue sky and rising high above Canaima’s jungle and savannah are the park’s most dramatic feature—the mysterious tepuys. In the language of the Pemón Indians, the word tepuy means “table mountain.” Composed of two billion year old rocks, the ancient tepuys shelter plants which grow nowhere else in the world—some unique to only a single tepuy. The two most well known tepuys are Roraima and Auyantepuy. Roraima, the highest of the tepuys, was the setting for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s novel, The Lost World. Although no dinosaurs rampage across Roraima’s top, the strange plants, valleys of crystals, pools of water and weird rock formations, appear to be from another planet. From high atop Auyantepuy, the largest of the tepuys, Angel Falls, the world’s highest waterfall, plunges over 3000 feet to the jungle below. The falls were named for Jimmy Angel, an American bush pilot and gold-seeker who first reported the waterfall in 1933. To the Pemóns, the tepuys are sacred guardians of the savannah where the “Mawari,” spirits who may steal the souls of the living, make their home. Around 15,000 Pemóns live in the park where it is believed their ancestors settled about 200 years ago. Although the traditions of Pemón society warn against climbing the tepuys, many of the Indians make their living guiding visitors on backpacking trips to the tops of these mountains. The gateway for the trek to Roraima is the Pemón village of Parai Tepuy. All visitors must check in at this village where supplies for the trek are carefully noted. Upon returning, empty containers must be produced to insure that no trash was left on the mountain. Backpacks are also carefully inspected and weighed to prevent the removal of crystals and minerals from the tepuy.