In South America, at the junction of Brazil, Venezuela and Guyana have a few tens of mountains called tepuis Roraima. In the language of the Indians "tepuis" means "home of the gods." These mountains, with distinctive vertical slopes and flat tops, - one of the oldest in the world.
Are remnants of long ago destroyed the plateau, they are composed of very hard sandstone. These are difficult, remote from each other cliffs rises above the surface, forming a bizarre, unearthly shapes. Highest tepuis in Venezuela - Mount Roraima (2810 m), which is also called the "big blue-green mountain." On top of the plateau is located about 30 km area!
Alien landscape. Moon, Mars. We often pronounce these names, describing a particular landscape. This is usually synonymous with lifelessness, emptiness. And just walking along the surface of the plateau of Roraima aka Lost World, which is the intersection of Venezuela, Guyana and Brazil, we can confidently say, unearthly landscape, alien, alien.
The feeling of getting on another planet does not leave: constant fog, black rocks of fantastic shapes, sclerophyllous plants with balls on long stems, rushing underground waterfalls, tiny black frogs. Lost World. A world in which it is easy to get lost. Because a man he did not belong.
And not just alien - alien. Best scenery for a film like "The Mystery of the Third Planet" is not found.
Plants - carnivorous predators
or handsome zhestkolistnye
Animals - tiny black frog
Strange, at first glance, the funnel was a 10-meter waterfall.
Strange, at first glance, the funnel was a 10-meter waterfall.
Again marshes as two drops of water similar to a swamp dead bliz Mordor by Gollum who led the hobbits.
Various figures have turned around just in a very interesting form of weathering.
Beautiful sunset on Roraima
Country tepuis - one of the most unusual and beautiful landscapes in the world. Here are the world's highest waterfall (Angel on Ian-tepuis, or Auyán-tepui, a height of about 1200 meters), less numerous waterfalls, caves and giant failures. On top of some of the tepuis have not gone before.
At the time, it served as the prototype of the Roraima plateau inhabited by dinosaurs in "Lost World" by A. Conan Doyle. After many unsuccessful attempts mountain was conquered in 1884. Dinosaurs were not there, but the researchers found at the top of many wonderful plants and animals not found anywhere else in the world except Roraima and neighboring Kukenan-tepuis.
The tops of tepuis - like islands in the sky, where the flora and fauna develop in isolation for millions of years. The nature of these cool "islands" is completely different from the tropical forest and savanna in the foothills.
Today, on Roraima climb a few dozen people a day. This is part of the national park, and make the ascent is allowed only with a guide. Climb the mountain without the aid of climbing equipment can only be in one place, on a narrow sloping ledge called "Ramp".
The trail is almost vertical in places and very slippery. Here and there would have to pass through waterfalls.
In the niches and cracks in cliffs many birds nest. Every morning in the surrounding forests scatter thousands of tiny swifts and parrots. At nightfall of the caves fly strange nocturnal birds-oilbirds.
The trail reaches the edge of the plateau just a half turn from a large pile of boulders on the edge of the cliff. This is the highest point of Roraima.
Where you can sit for hours in solitude, his legs dangling into the abyss and looking as you ascend to the clouds with the warm plains. When the wind carries clouds of mist in the face, it seems that you swiftly flying through the clouds. Occasionally fog parted and you see the rolling plains, neighboring tepuis Kukenan-in strips of waterfalls and tepuis other rectangular silhouettes on the horizon. And behind you it stretches a plateau - one of the most fantastic places in the world.
Below it seems that it's all smooth. This is actually a chaotic heap of rocks, canyons, steep hills and stony placers. Almost the entire surface of the plateau completely black from the "desert varnish" and living in the upper layer of stone microscopic algae.
Where sandstone protected from rain and sun, or constantly blurred water seen his true color, usually bright pink.
Various sandstone layers are destroyed at different rates, so the plateau were formed thousands of bizarre rocks - thickets of giant "mushroom", palisades five-meter stone phalluses, fairytale castles, endless fields "chess pieces". There are so many that use them as reference points to take or fails.
On the plateau it is very easy to get lost, especially in the fog. In the north-western part is the so-called Labyrinth, which guides even afraid to go. Here and there a stone split by giant cracks - rivers disappear in them, then to get out of the waterfall cliffs hundreds of meters below the plateau edge.
About a fifth of the plateau is covered with water. Bright pink puddle, peat swamps, pristine lake on the light, swift rivers ... For wet-on-knee legs have to get used to. The beds of some rivers for hundreds of meters lined with crystals of rock crystal.
Is there and "Jacuzzi" - oval bath with crystal bottom, as if specially designed for swimming. Guides them really swim, but most tourists water feels too cold.
Particularly interesting peat bogs. This is the hottest corners of the plateau - there is an amazing amount of beautiful flowers, colorful carpets of moss and moss, thickets of carnivorous plants and orchids. Walk on it a bit tedious, but not dangerous - a layer of peat is almost always hard sandstone. Trees on the plateau a little bit, and they look like bonsai, and all the plateau sometimes seems a giant Japanese garden.
But there are few animals. The largest - funny nosuh akin raccoons. Almost all of the small fauna - are endemic, found only on the summits tepuis or even only Roraima. Many are painted in black, even the butterflies and dragonflies. Once on the plateau have a mouse, several species of birds, lizards, millipedes, spiders, scorpions and carnivorous leeches, but no fish, snakes, mosquitoes and gnats.
Tourist groups spend the night in the so-called "hotels" - protected from the rain on narrow areas under overhanging rocks. Some of the "hotels" offer quite unearthly appearance, albeit very gloomy.
The standard seven-day tour covers only the south-west of the plateau. Until the other parts can be reached either with the ten-round (but these are rare), or himself. Self-climbing is not only illegal, but also very risky: the people in the Roraima disappear every year.
Although the plateau area of 84 square kilometers, it completely around and this week is not easy. Long-distance hiking routes end at the "triple point" - at the stone pyramid, indicating the joint borders of the three countries. If you still be able to go further, you will see Gladys Lake, the largest plateau (about a hundred meters long), named after the lake plesiosaurs from "The Lost World".
Lake Gladys half overgrown with reeds, and not worth the risk of self-hike. But even a kilometer or two, and you get off to a very striking place called prow. This is the northern tip of Roraima, where the plateau ends with a narrow, very sharp protrusions on either side - vosmisotmetrovye cliffs. A few minutes spent on the nose among flying towards the ragged clouds - perhaps one of the most powerful sensations available to the inhabitants of our planet.
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