Roraima

After a couple of days' rest in Santa Elena de Uairén, I booked myself on a trek to the top of Roraima, which at 2810m is the highest table mountain in the world. The trek is usually six days long, which involves spending three days going up, followed by a whole day at the top of the mountain, and then two days going down. However, on the day I wanted to leave, the tour operator that I chose to go with, Mystic Tours, had designated it as a 5-day trek. I never found out the reason for that, but it meant that if we were going to have a whole day at the top of Roraima, we would have to make the ascent in two days rather than three. Things didn't quite turn out like that, as I'll explain.

I met three members of my group the evening before the start of the trek, when Roberto, the owner of Mystic Tours, gave us a briefing in his office. They were Simon, an English teacher from Germany, and Dayana and Juan, a young Venezuelan couple. The rest of the group were due to arrive in Santa Elena the following morning on an overnight bus from Ciudad Bolívar. In the briefing Roberto gave us a lot of useful information about the trek, and then gave us some slightly less useful information when he started talking about the mystical aspects of Roraima. For example he asked us to memorise a short poem, which he advised us to recite when we arrived at the mountain, so that we would be welcomed by the spirits of Roraima. Roberto also told us that there have been a lot of UFO sightings around Roraima, and even showed us a drawing of the leader of the extra-terrestrial race that some people claim to have encountered. He explained that the extra-terrestrials have Scandinavian features, and the good news is that they come in peace.

The following morning the rest of the group arrived, and we met up at the Mystic Tours office. There were ten of us in total, and the six I haven't already mentioned were all from Spain, although there were three girls (Aitziber, Eunateio and Eztizen) from the Basque country who insisted on getting offended if anyone suggested that they were Spanish, which got a bit boring after a while. Anyway I was very glad that Simon was there, because otherwise I would have felt a bit isolated as the only non-native Spanish speaker in the group.

We also met our guide and porters for the trek. Our guide's name was Gideon, and he explained that he was a member of the local Pemón tribe, but he actually came from the only Pemón village in Guyana, which meant that he was a native English speaker. Our porters would be carrying the tents and cooking equipment and all of our food, but each of us had to carry our own sleeping bag and mat. This meant that I had to do the trek with my big backpack, which was the first time I'd ever done that. There was also a cheaper option for the trek, which was half the price of the standard trek, and which required you to carry all of your own equipment and food. Dayana and Juan chose this option, and as a result they had very heavy backpacks - rather them than me.

Before I describe the trek, I need to explain a bit of geography. The trek begins in Paraitepui, a small Pemón village about 80km from Santa Elena, and there are then a number of campsites on the way from Paraitepui to Roraima. The first campsite, called Río Tek, is about four hours' walk from Paraitepui, and most groups stay here on the first and last nights. Shortly after this campsite it's necessary to cross two rivers, Río Tek and Río Kukenan, which are knee-deep if you're lucky, and neck-deep if you're not. After these rivers there's a second campsite called Río Kukenan, where groups can stay if they manage to cross the rivers on the first day, or if they aren't able to cross the rivers coming back on the penultimate day. From the Río Kukenan campsite it's another three-hour walk to the campamento base (base camp), which is at the foot of Roraima. From there it's four hours' steep hike up to the top of Roraima, where it's possible to camp in one of several 'hotels', which are actually just sheltered spots underneath rock overhangs.

So we set off to Paraitepui mid-morning in a couple of 4x4 vehicles, and on the way we stopped off at a liquor store, where Gideon advised to buy some rum for the cold nights on top of Roraima. I bought a bottle, which probably wasn't such a bright idea, because it made my backpack just a little uncomfortably heavy. Shortly afterwards we encountered our first incident, when we had to rescue another company's vehicle that had taken the wrong road and got stuck in a ditch. Luckily our driver knew which was the correct road, so we arrived safely in Paraitepui.

After lunch we started the hike in good weather, with Roraima visible but partially covered with cloud in the distance. However, the weather stayed good for only a couple of hours more, after which the downpour started. We continued on in the driving rain, until we reached a stream a short distance before the Río Tek campsite. The three Basque girls and I managed to cross the stream without too much difficulty and arrived at the campsite in good time, but it had been raining so hard for the last hour that the level of the stream was rising incredibly quickly, and those only a few minutes behind us found it impossible to cross. Eventually with Gideon's help they managed to cross several hundred metres further upstream, by hanging onto the branches of a nearby tree. They arrived at the Río Tek campsite just before dark, which meant that we had no chance of crossing the two rivers that evening.

I was absolutely drenched when I arrived at the campsite, but I felt a lot better after changing into a dry set of clothes, although I realised that this was the start of an ultimately losing battle to keep anything I'd brought with me either dry or clean. Gideon and the porters then cooked us a filling meal, and after dinner we went to our tents for an early night. I was sharing a tent with Simon, which was great, except that each night after getting into the tent he would spray himself with insect repellent, almost choking us both to death in the process.

The weather was a lot better the following morning, and we could clearly see Roraima as well as its neighbouring tepui, Tepui Kukenan. We also awoke to the news that Albert and his wife (whose name I can't remember), a middle-aged couple from Spain, were so discouraged by the weather the previous day that they'd decided to give up and go back to Santa Elena straightaway. And so the group was down to eight.

Our first task after setting off that morning was to cross the two rivers. Since there'd been no rain since about 6pm the previous day, the water level was fairly low, but even so, the water was flowing quickly and it wasn't easy to cross. I was one of the first to cross Río Tek, and here you can see some of the others attempting the crossing. We then climbed up a hill, from where we had a view of Río Kukenan, which we also had to cross.

This was a hard day with a lot of steep hills to walk up, and again the weather was bad, so it wasn't a lot of fun. It was also clear that a pattern was being established - Simon, the Basque girls and I tended to stay together at the front, while Sara was a bit slower, and Dayana and Juan were extremely slow. Clearly the problem was that they were carrying all of their own equipment and food, which unsurprisingly was slowing them down. The plan had been to reach the top of Roraima that evening, and the five of us arrived at base camp at midday, which was early enough for us to have a rest and then carry on to the top. However, Dayana and Juan didn't arrive until about 2pm, which simply didn't give us enough time to reach the top in daylight. As a result we were forced to spend the night at base camp, so we'd have to settle for spending just one night at the top of Roraima. We did at least have good weather that afternoon, so we were able to relax, and we had good views of both Roraima and Tepui Kukenan (below).

This was the view from base camp on the morning of the third day. Even though we were camped at the foot of Roraima, we couldn't see it because the campsite was shrouded in thick fog. It had rained for most of the night and it was still raining - this was the worst weather yet, and we had to climb to the top of Roraima in it.

Anyway we got on with it, and after leaving base camp at 8am we'd reached Roraima's wall within about an hour and a half. At this point a natural ramp begins that leads to the top, which it's just about possible to walk up without climbing equipment. At times it was actually more like climbing than hiking, as we had to use our hands to lift ourselves up over boulders that were too big just to step onto. And I was doing all of this in the pouring rain while wearing a 12kg backpack - it was a pretty tough morning. Finally at about 11:15am Simon and I reached the top, shortly behind the Basque girls. It was here that I discovered how fervently the girls considered themselves Basque rather than Spanish, because when we met them they were having photos taken of themselves holding the Basque flag alongside a banner proclaiming independence for the Basque country.

We then continued to our 'hotel' for the night, where we waited for the rest of the group to turn up. At this time Roraima was still blanketed in cloud, and we were wondering if were ever going to be able to see beyond fifty metres in front of us. Shortly after 1pm, Gideon finally arrived with Sara, Dayana and Juan, at which point we had sandwiches for lunch and then rested for a while, hoping for the clouds to clear. Our patience paid off, because before long the rain stopped and the sky began to brighten, and we were finally able to see the Gran Sabana below us.

Gideon then suggested that we take the opportunity to go to the highest point of Roraima, because there was a fair chance of getting a good view. The highest point was a half-hour walk from our hotel, which took us through weird moon-like landscapes with strange rock formations and plant life. The shifting mists made things seem even more eerie. And the gamble paid off, because the clouds did clear enough for us to get some spectacular views of both the Gran Sabana (including base camp) and Tepui Kukenan. Below is a picture of me at Roraima's highest point.

After a cold night we awoke to blue skies, and this was the view from our hotel. Because we had to leave Roraima later that morning, Gideon took us to see some more of Roraima's main sights before breakfast. First we went to Bahia de Cristal, which is an area full of quartz crystals. We then passed the Fidel Castro rock formation, as well as the, erm, stone penis, before arriving at the Jacuzzi (which unfortunately contained neither hot water nor bubbles).

We then continued to the Abyss, where there's a huge vertical drop to the valley below, and finally we arrived at La Ventana (The Window), through which it's possible to see the jungle of Guyana below. (Incidentally, the only main sight we didn't see was the Triple Point, which is the point at which the borders of Venezuela, Brazil and Guyana meet. Gideon told us that very few people reach the Triple Point anyway, so in the end I don't think we missed out at all by doing the trek in only five days.) We then made our way back to our hotel, and after breakfast we packed up and got ready to leave for what would probably be the longest day of all, because we were hoping to walk all the way back to the first campsite, Río Tek, in a single day.

We found that it took just as long to descend to base camp as it had to ascend from there the previous day. Obviously it wasn't as physically exhausting going down, but it was very slow because at every step we were at risk of slipping and injuring ourselves. We were all back at base camp by 2pm, and then after a quick lunch we continued on our way. The weather worsened a bit in the afternoon, but it was still nowhere near as bad as the previous morning, and the five of us arrived together at the first of the two rivers with daylight to spare.

Gideon helped us cross Río Kukenan, and then he told us that we'd have to cross Río Tek without him while he waited for the others to arrive. I crossed Río Tek first, but not particularly successfully because I managed to fall in the water halfway through. The others then crossed in a bit of a team effort, as you can see here. It was almost dark by the time we arrived at the campsite, and we couldn't believe the rest of the group would be able to make it. However, soon after dark Sara turned up, and about an hour later Dayana and Juan finally arrived, having crossed both rivers in complete darkness with the aid of Gideon, the two porters and some torches. Despite being mainly downhill, I think we all agreed that the fourth day had been the hardest day, because we'd been walking for almost ten hours in total.

The following morning we set off for the final part of the trek, which probably was the most relaxed of all, although it still wasn't easy, particularly considering what we'd been through during the previous four days. We also had the best weather of the trek, with hardly any rain. In fact the weather was a bit too good, because I managed to get sunburnt, just to add to the hundreds of insect bites that I'd picked up over the previous few days (as had everybody else). So after about 3½ hours of walking we arrived back in Paraitepui at lunchtime, where we took the obligatory group photo (below).

On the way back to Santa Elena we stopped off briefly at Jaspe Falls, which is a waterfall that cascades onto a volcanic slab of rock, and we finally arrived back at our hostel in Santa Elena in the mid-afternoon. I was absolutely exhausted, sunburnt, covered in insect bites, and aching in pretty much every part of my body, and it was a huge relief to be back. But of course it was worth it, because I'll have forgotten about the pain before long, and it was a pretty amazing adventure. But just consider that our guide, Gideon, has been to the top of Roraima over a hundred times, and after only one day's rest he was due to start the trek all over again on Sunday. That must be one of the toughest jobs in the world.

And that's the end of my time in Venezuela. Having written all that in Santa Elena on Saturday, I've now moved onto Manaus in Brazil, where I have wi-fi and I'm finally able to upload the photos. I only spent 2½ weeks in Venezuela, which is slightly less than planned because I decided in the end not to do a tour of Gran Sabana. I admit that I wasn't expecting to like Venezuela very much, but it did exceed my expectations, because Angel Falls and Roraima were two of the best things that I've seen on my trip.

OK, I'd better go now and study my Portuguese phrasebook.