Roraima is the only one of over 200 tepuis that can be climbed on a trail. It takes 6 days and you stay in “hotels” (overhangs). It is possible to hike to the tri-boundary of Guyana, Brazil and Venezuela on a surreal landscape.
Day 1 After a day off in Santa Elena (pop 18,500), we drove 2 hours NE via San Francisco to Paraitepui to start the 6-day trek up Roraima, the only tepui easily climbed.
We had a great group of strong walkers and walked for about 4 hours on the first day.
Day 2. After another 3 ½ to 4 hours of steep walking, we arrived at the base camp under a huge 600 m sandstone cliff. Now rainy season, it rained often every day and the cheap umbrella I bought in Santa Elena was a godsend.
Day 3. On the 3rd day, we climbed about 900 m up the steep trail, walking through 2 waterfalls, to reach the top of the tepui. It was a surreal moonscape with all the sandstone a deep black from a coating of cyanobacteria. Rudimentary walking routes wear off the black coating exposing the pink of the ancient heavily eroded sandstone.
It is an amazing landscape with few distinctive landmarks. It is easy to get lost and the guides were indispensable. There are buttes, creeks, marshes, small lakes, pink ‘beaches’ and low plants (some endemic to the top of Roraima and some carnivorous). Beds of crystals are everywhere but packs were checked on the way out to ensure none were taken.
The only animals besides a few birds were tiny black frogs with an orange belly (similar to ones in Africa and presumed related and date back 150 million years to Gondwana when all the continents were joined). The weather changes fast and one sees clouds, mist, heavy rain, wind, cold, and bright sunshine all in an hour.
We camped for 2 nights in one of the ‘hotels’, areas under big overhangs that offer protection from the frequent rain.
On the first day on top, we hiked to the eastern area of the top to have spectacular, though brief views for hundreds of miles of the jungle of western Guyana. We saw the tourist sites of the Window (a huge sandstone boulder tipped to give views straight down the cliff), the Jacuzzi (pretty pools lined with quartz crystals where many swim) and sitting on the edge of the 600 m vertiginous cliff.
Day 4. With the whole second day on top, trips normally go 9 km to Triple Point, where Guyana, Brazil and Venezuela meet. On the way are Crystal Valley and the Pit, a large sinkhole. The guides are not keen to do it if the weather is not good and we were in clouds and rain. Instead, we went to a great sandstone cave with a running stream. Down several hundred metres, with all the headlights off and the rushing water, it was a very meditative experience in the pitch black.
Day 5. It was a steep 6000 vertical feet down the cliff, past base camp to our campsite on the first night.
Day 6 was a long 3 ½ hour trek in the rain through hilly country with many creek crossings. The clay-based soil was slick and everybody fell at least once. A few pounds of clay weighed down each shoe. This trail was best described as “sticks like glue, slides like snot”.
After 2 days in Santa Elena to allow my quads to recover from the big descent, I caught a night bus back to Puerto Ordaz, a 10 am flight to Caracas, an afternoon flight to Miami, Dallas and Vancouver.