Blogs from Guayana, Venezuela, South America - page 4

Tim Version: * Tried to leave Ciudad Bolivar quickly, looks like a bit of a hole, but plan didn't work. Stayed the night and found it actually has a very small nice section! * Got to see the Orinoco river, not so beautiful here but still I've seen it, then had a mission of a time getting a bus to Merida. The "ahhh so thats the Orinoco River! OK seen that..." version: Well I had a lot more time than I thought, and I planned on hiking and walking lots in Merida which was to be my next destination, but really I just needed to stop and relax... but Ciudad Bolivar is a bit of a hole so I went to the bus station. Doh, missed the direct Merida bus by 10 minutes and there was ... read more

Tim Version: * Climbed Roraima, the incredible Tepui near the border of Brazil and Venezuela. * Experienced its random weather patterns, bleak but colourful and beautiful landscape, and had a good hike getting there and back. The swirling, churning, constantly changing version: The drive from Caracas to Santa Elena is 24 hours by bus with few stops but its an easy ride. Once out of the city and more into the country it is also quite a beautiful ride. While I slept for a lot of it, what I saw out of the window was mostly dense bush/jungle all around us, making it difficult to tell how far or for how long we had been travelling. Overnight, nothing special, then the next morning in the last town before the long stretch to Santa Elena, some basic ... read more

Thursday 5th March Apologies for the lack of photos in the last blog, ´had difficulty uploading them, but hopefully will have better luck with this server. When I left Roy´s I made my way for the night coach to Ciudad Bolivar, the first stop on the route to Angel Falls. My main rucksack went into the luggage compartment. Fortunately I kept my sleeping bag in my day bag, as the air conditioning was turned full on and I would not have got to sleep otherwise. It was a nine hour trip but I slept through my stop and ended up in Puerto Ordaz. I had to get a collectivo ( a private car which goes when it is full) back to C. Bolivar. When there I immediately scouted for a company who does tours to the ... read more

October 27 - 30, 2008 Camaina and Angel Falls, Venezuela WOW !!! We left Margarita Island on an early flight and flew to Puerto Ordaz and on to Canaima National Park. Alice “just loved” the small planes ! The views are spectacular in these aircraft as you fly fairly low. After a few hours and some beautiful scenery we arrived at the Canaima National Park that is home to Angel Falls ( highest in the world at about 1000 meters ). Shortly after arrival we took a fly over flight of Angel Falls and the surrounding mountains and gorges, in a Cessena 6 seater. This was not scheduled for today but the weather was decent and we took the opportunity. This was a great ride with some spectacular, and very close up, views of these amazing ... read more

We took a land tour to Angel Falls in The Canaima National Park. One of the most fascinating features in Canaima's landscape diversity are the tabular formations called tepuys, rising abruptly in the horizon among savannahs and dense forests. The top of the formations are flat and collect rainwater that falls off the tabletops to make waterfalls. Angel Falls is the tallest waterfall in the world with a free fall of 979 meters. To get from the Canaima airport to Angel Falls we took a 4 hour canoe ride in a canoe that was carved out of a tree. The long canoe had a 48 hp Yamaha outboard motor on the back. We slept in hammocks at a camp with a view of Angel Falls. We made a 2 hour hike thru the rainforest jungle to ... read more