The Roraima Adventure!

Mount Roraima is one of the oldest mountains on earth, it is located in Bolivar state, Venezuela, in a region called La Gran Sabana.

in this photo you can see Mount Roraima on the right and Mount Kukenan on the left

Even though I was born and have lived my entire life in Venezuela, it took me 28 years to venture on this journey. A journey of 10 days that I will be illustrating with the photos that I took on that trip.

We were a group of 22 people, most of us did not know each other. There were meetings prior to the trip but I saw them all for the first time on the first day when we got on the two toyotas that took us from Caracas to La Gran Sabana.

I didn't took a picture of that first moment, sorry.

The first two days were road trip days. Quite uncomfortable because the FJ toyotas are not made to transport so many people over such long distances. That first night we slept in a city called Pto Ordaz, 8 hours from Caracas and with 8 hours remaining on the way to the first camp.
We slept at the house (in the garage) of a collaborator of the tour guides (Exploring Venezuela)

still no photo. Soon, I promise.

The second day we left Pto Ordaz towards the Parai Tepuy camp, in La Gran Sabana. It was another trip of 8 hours but you can not imagine the happiness that La Gran Sabana gives when you see it for the first time, especially in the golden hour!.

sorry for the quality of this photo, too much reframing.

half of the group having fun in the Toyota #2

At the end of the day we made it to the camp, and we can say that it was a really, really fun roadtrip!.

Third day, no more Toyotas!, is time to begging our long 2 days walk to base camp, at the base of the Mount Roraima. So, we gear up, took a group photograph and star trecking!

this is us, the group (I'm not in the picture)

That day was a hard test of endurance, I think no one imagined how difficult this trip would be on a physical and mental level. It were between 6 and 8 hours of walking along irregular trails, up and down, until we reached the camp on the banks of the Kukenan River.

somewhere along the way

we found this beautiful and lonely church on our path

the view near of our camp on the Kukenan River

the idea was to climb that threatening wall

That night it rained a little, but nothing serious. We were so tired that we fell like rocks and slept without problems until the next day !.

next morning, from the Kukenan River

So, we woke up, and we continued with our second day of walking (4 days of the trip), tired of the previous day, some members of the group already had wounds on their feet for not wearing appropriate shoes, fortunately I was not part of that statistic . This second stage of the trek was much more difficult because most part of the road was uphill to reach the base camp, at the base of Roraima.
Some guys in the group were in fit physical condition and climbed at an incredible speed (4 hours to base camp), others were completely out of shape and very poorly equipped for the crossing, oh you could see the despair in their eyes. Me and 4 other guys decided to enjoy the landscape to tolerate the physical demands of the trek. It was very difficult.

I was one of the poorly equipped dudes, had two backpacks (18kilos) mostly on cameras, lenses, tripod, and drone.

At the end of the day we arrived at the base camp, each one at his own pace, but we all arrived. We were already very close to the Roraima, you could feel the peace and the good vibes of the place.

yea, next day we have to climb this monster!

We woke up on our fifth day of travel and it was time to climb the Roraima!

This would be the hardest part of the trip for me, I think that everyone reached their limit in different stages of the trip but for me it was this day.
The vegetation changes completely and you start a very steep ascent. No more wide roads. The path became increasingly complicated and dangerous, because the slope was very steep and by your side you had the constant threat of falling down.

this is Esdra, a member of our group

the first time we touch the wall, The Mount Roraima

this is Armando, he is a Pemon. The Pemones are indigenous South Americans who inhabit the southeastern area of ​​Bolívar state in Venezuela, the border with Guyana and Brazil. They are the common inhabitants in the Gran Sabana and the entire Canaima National Park

As I was saying, this day was the hardest, it took me 8 hours to reach the top, but in the end I did it, we did it!

reaching the top of Roraima feels like being on another planet

star wars set?

breathtaking place

Sixth day, I woke up at 4am, the sun had not yet risen, I managed to see the sky through a space between the rocks, I can't describe what I saw...

When your day begins like this, you forget the fatigue, you get up the mood and wakes up the adventurous child in you.
Oh yeah, we walked a lot that day, exploring everything we could because the next day we should descend and leave behind this incredible adventure.

this is me, right on the edge of that huge wall that I have been showing you

That was an incredible day, we could not explore everything because it's too big to do it in one day, but we saw a lot. Returning to our camp we found a place where later 4 of us decided to see the sunrise there before going down the Roraima. The best decision I've made!

few minutes before the sun comes up

this is when you realize what life is all about

this is us, being happy

After that beautiful moment, we came down of the Roraima, what we climb up in three days, we made it in two! we really speed that walk. We wanted a hot shower, hot food, a real bed.
We came back all the way to Prai Tepuy camp at the eight day, there the guys from Exploring Venezuela gave away some clothes for the people that live there.

the guys from Exploring Venezuela and the villagers

The two Toyotas were waiting for us on the Parai Tepuy camp, we wanted to go back home right a way but a shortage of fuel kept us on La Gran Sabana for one more night, then, at the next day we started our 2 days road trip back home.

I hope you guys enjoy this post as I enjoy writing it. I have to say that I was listening to We Are All Astronauts while I was writing it, so, maybe reading it with that musical background would be a lot better!

I also made a vLog about that trip. Watch it so you can get a better idea of how our journey was

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See you on the next one!