Roraima Trek - Venezuela by Simeon Davies
Roraima Trek – Venezuela
By Simeon Davies
It took about three days to reach the summit, and that was from the base camp. To get there it was a two-hour four-wheel-drive down a bumpy, flooded track from the nearest town. To get to that town it was an overnight bus ride. And that´s if you´re already in Venezuela. It´s not convenient. But most natural wonders aren´t.
Then as you stand on the edge of the cliff atop Mount Roraima and the clouds briefly part, revealing the 400-meter drop and the bare plains of Canaima National Park, you realize why thousands of visitors make the trek every year. It´s a rare experience to walk for three days, turn around, and still be able to see your path disappear into the distance.
Three days earlier we started with a local guide and two porters. The first two days is an endless path over rolling hills through the treeless landscape of Canaima. A bushfire once wiped out all the vegetation, but fortunately this opened up access to Roraima Tepui, the table-top mountain bordering Venezuela, Brazil and Guyana.
Roraima seems to always be within view, but like a carrot in front of a donkey, it doesn´t seem to get closer. The initial days walking in were only broken up by the odd river crossing and the piri-piri – a flea like insect that gnaws away at any exposed skin whenever you stop.
Nights are spent at designated camp areas on the hard earth before the sunrise wakes you at dawn and the expedition resumes.
On day three the plains merge into jungle and the vertical cliffs of Roraima grow over you. It´s hard to see how you will ascend it without resorting to rock climbing, but our guide Marcos, a diminutive Guyanan native with eleven-years experience powers ahead up the steep track, which snakes its way up the edge of the cliff. Then suddenly, after crossing under waterfalls, over loose rock and slippery ancient boulders you´re standing at the edge of a 31 square kilometer flat mountain, looking out at the moonscape of another world that disappears into the cloudy distance.
´People have got lost up here, gone missing,´ says Marcos. ´Try and stay with me.´ Everyone heeds his warning.
Two days are spent exploring the top of the mountain. Traversing the Tepui´s terrain can feel like an obstacle course, spotting rocks sitting above the puddles to hop across and finding dry routes amongst the water is a challenge with a guide, without him would be near impossible.
There are two Australians in our group who underestimated the trip. ´We thought you could follow the track by yourself and wouldn´t need a guide,´ says Ben, ´but you´d be stuffed up here without Marcos.´
Simeon Davies is in the middle in the blue shirt
The following morning, after the first night camping on the Tepui, the other one, Dale, climbs out of his tent at dawn, fully clothed, lips blue and shivering. `I´ve never been so cold in my life,´ he mutters with hands wrapped up in his jumper after a sleepless night. Three days ago he had claimed he wouldn´t need a sleeping bag because he had socks and pants. At the top you´re living in a freezing cloud.
But the fog and mist add to the eerie atmosphere. I wander away from the camp – not too far – and stand silently. There is nothing around but the sandstone surface, rocks, puddles and low marshes. The only sound is your own breathing, a trickle of water and the occasional humming bird darting past.
The descent revitalizes the group. As spectacular as Roraima is the appeal of dry clothes and a hot shower is an attractive reward at the end of the hike and it´s only a day and a half to get back to base camp, although then you´re reminded you´re still in south eastern Venezuela and still a long way from anything.
From Simeon: “Since 2003 I haven't really spent more than a year in the one spot. Last year I planned a 3 month trip to Mexico and now it's been 18 months and I'm in Rio. A couple of years ago I started to write things down after reading a lot of travel writing, a lot of which was dull and uninteresting that I figured I could better.
Now I'm writing a book about Central America. Ambitious I know, especially for someone with no training or experience, but it passes the time well at bus stations.
I've worked in 4 different countries and volunteered in Venezuela last year.
couchsurfing.com can almost double your travel time because you spend nothing on accommodation.
I'm waiting to get picked up at a bus station in southern Brazil as I write this.”
Travel Tips from Simeon:
His local (Marcos) : http://www.leaplocal.org/locals/view/350/
www.backpacker-tours.com can organize everything from transportation to accommodation and arranging a tour guide. Or you can do it yourself by getting public buses in Venezuela to Santa Elena, near the Brazilian border, where there are a number of different tour companies and hotels in town. There are different options available whether you want to carry your own equipment or hire porters.