In January 2001, Gerry and a friend went on an expedition to Venezuela. This is his story...
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Part 1: How We Came to Choose Venezuela Towards the end of summer last year, a colleague from
work approached me and wondered if I had any ideas about a trip for
the following year. We'd been to India in 1999 with another colleague
and it was about time to plan another trip. I didn't have any ideas. "How
about New Zealand," he suggested. "I'm not sure," I
replied. I'd seen Auntie Dorothy's slides of New Zealand which were
impressive and attractive but to be honest I wasn't that keen in
travelling to New Zealand. My colleague is not a walker and to travel
through a beautifully mountainous country and not be able to do any
hiking would be extremely tough. And as beautiful as New Zealand is,
it is too Westernised and developed for me. And so that is the story of how we chose Venezuela as our holiday destination. Venezuela far exceeded the high expectations we had in the beauty of the countryside and the friendliness and warmth of the people. Part 2: Preparations and Arrival
The books we had contained plenty of photographs and description and we selected four regions that we'd like to see: Angel Falls; La Gran Sabana; the Andes mountains and the Peninsula de Paraguanà. We found Lonely Planet's "Venezuela" invaluable for it listed virtually everything we needed to know: what to see; hotels; restaurants; bus transport; city maps and prices. It made planning straightforward because we were able to calculate how much money we'd need and how long we'd need to visit each of our four regions. We figured we'd spend six days in each area including travelling time and rest days making for a total trip length of three and a half weeks. This worked out just about right and made for an active but not rushed holiday. .jpg)
No special gear was needed: just ordinary but light in weight clothes; backpack; small daypack; mosquito net; first aid and emergency medical kit; repair kit; personal gear; torch, whistle and compass; penknife; guidebook; English-Spanish dictionary and camera and film of course. The only special equipment I brought was a water filter so I wouldn't have to buy bottled water. It was particularly useful to be able to put my daypack inside my main pack especially when travelling on public transport: it's much easier to keep your eye on one pack. The only exception was when I had to stow my main pack in the luggage compartment of the bus. In this situation I kept my daypack with me which held my most expensive and irreplaceable gear. I'll mention more on security a little later. Weight became an important consideration because we'd be carrying our stuff around Venezuela. One gets quite creative on devising ways to save weight. I went as far as (book lovers may not wish to read to the end of the sentence) cutting out pages I didn't need from the guidebook. .jpg)
Medical preparations were important and I nearly got caught out and could have put my health at risk. What happened was that I knew all my vaccinations like polio, tetanus, hepatitis, and typhoid were up to date so I didn't go and see my GP until about two weeks before leaving. He said the Yellow Fever vaccination was essential. I didn't know this (probably because I'd torn out the pages of the health section from my guidebook.) "Why?" I asked, as the name sounded so innocuous. "Well put it this way, if you catch the disease you have a fifty percent chance of dying." It was nice of him to put it that way but it did shake me into action. My GP couldn't give me the vaccination because it was in short supply and to make things worse it needs ten days to become effective and time was ebbing away. Fortunately I received the vaccination the very next day after the medical department at work directed me where to go. The nurse at the clinic said, "You've left it a little late haven't you," the same words as my GP. Well the moral of all this is go see your GP as early as possible or don't tear pages out of your guidebook. .jpg)
Venezuela is not a particularly dangerous country, in fact it's probably one of the safest in South America, but after reading that Caracas was unsafe we did take a few sensible precautions. I carried my money, passport and documents in six different places on my body using money belts, neck and shoulder pouches and pockets I made myself and strapped to my legs. I brought with me a bicycle lock to secure my pack on buses. My camera would attract attention and so to disguise it I would carry it around in a strong brown paper bag and only taking it out briefly to take photographs. A plastic digital watch is best: even a cheap analogue watch may attract attention. During the day we carried enough money in our outside pockets for that day in addition to an expired credit card. Any pickpocket would be happy with that and leave you alone before realising the card was no good. Being aware when walking around will also put off potential malefactors. All these things made us feel safer and relaxed and nothing untoward happened. Before long we were finally on an Air Portugal flight for Caracas arriving there late evening. It was dark of course but we knew how much the taxi would cost and where the hotel was. The city outskirts were very pretty at night. There were houses nestled on hillsides and the white streetlights arranged haphazardly made one think of Christmas. .jpg)
We got a room at our hotel and after travelling for some fourteen hours (the flight we were on went via Portugal) we were exhausted and were asleep immediately. The next day we were up early because of the four hour time difference and explored the area near our hotel. This was our first day in Venezuela and the guidebooks had warned that Caracas was dangerous and so we didn't feel particularly comfortable. We wandered along the Boulevard de Sabana Grande where there are many shops, cafes and people. The guidebooks had tainted our perceptions of Caracas but this changed when we visited Caracas later in the holiday. .jpg)
Our next destination was Ciudad Bolivar, a pleasant city on the banks of the Orinoco. Here was our first experience of the warmth of Venezuelan people. We walked to the Mercado La Carioca where there was a market with fishermen bringing in fish caught right there on the Orinoco. We seemed to be the only tourists and they smiled as we took photos. There were many students in Ciudad Bolivar and they were more than happy to pose for photographs. Even the soldiers of the nearby Navy barracks wanted us to photograph them. I thought it wise to decline in this case. .jpg)
We travelled to the airport early the next morning, and without having prebooked anything, we got on a light plane together with two women, three children and a pile of luggage headed for Canaima: the starting point for the trip to Angel Falls the worlds highest waterfall. Part 3 Canaima, Angel Falls, Pemón Indians and a Beautiful Story .jpg)
Angel Falls at a height of 979 metres is the world's tallest waterfall, emerging from the upper reaches of Auyantepui in a wilderness area of Venezuela known as La Gran Sabana. It was made famous by, and named after, the American pilot Jimmie Angel. He'd first seen the falls the previous year and returned with his wife and 2 companions to search for gold. He landed his plane on the top of Auyantepui but his plane sunk in the marshy ground and it took his group 11 days to return to the nearest Indian village. We wouldn't be doing such a trek but Angel Falls was top on our list of must-sees. There are two ways to see the falls. One is by plane
that does several passes over the falls. The second way, and our
preferred option, was to travel by dugout canoe to a viewpoint at the
foot of the falls. The problem was that we had arrived at the start of
the dry season and there was some uncertainty that the river levels
would be high enough to allow boat travel. In Ciudad Bolivar there
were many operators offering tours to Angel Falls but some of them
could not guarantee a river excursion and we were unsure of those that
did. Despite claims by these operators that it would be more expensive
if we did the trip ourselves we decided to travel to Canaima
independently and make a decision there, based on the latest
information. At Canaima airport we ignored the agents of the other
tour companies and headed for the camp at Bernal Tours. They weren't
certain whether it would be possible for us to go on the river trip.
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Eventually after 6 hours of travelling upstream we caught our first sight of Angel Falls from the river and although it was the dry season I still thought they were impressive if only for the sheer drop. Very soon we were off the boat and travelling uphill along a jungle path to the viewpoint. Even with a wide-angle lens it was difficult to photograph the whole of the fall. Some creative positioning was required, made more interesting because the viewpoint was basically a rounded boulder some 4 metres by 5 metres. Everything was an exciting build up from the canoe ride, the rapids, the short walks along the banks and the final long walk to the viewpoint converged to the climax of seeing these falls in an inaccessible part of the world. It was dark by the time we reached our camp at the base of the viewpoint and this was where we spent the night sleeping in hammocks. We returned to our camp at Bernal Tours the following morning, the return journey being down stream taking just under 5 hours. .jpg)
I must describe the camp at Bernal Tours because it was quite literally an island paradise and far more interesting than any other place I saw in Canaima. The camp is on an island called La Isla Anatoly in the middle of La Laguna de Canaima and so the only way to reach it is by canoe. The camp at the southern end is the only habitation on the island. It is centred upon a large open sided house with a thatched roof. There were sleeping hammocks, or beds if you preferred, around the outside with a central dining area separated by bamboo mesh walls. The food was cooked in a separate area to the side and I must say the food here was the best I had in my whole trip. I was eating mainly salads which included palm hearts, omelettes and bread. Very simple food but so deliciously tasty and carefully prepared by local indigenous Indians who were employed there. There were toilets and cool showers (no hot water was needed for it was so warm.) A trail leads from the camp to the highest part of the island where there are natural bathing pools, forests, waterfalls and tepuis in the distance. Also round about here were Tomás Bernal's animals. We literally had the island to ourselves and although other tours do visit, this time of the year saw few of them. There was lots to do, exploring the island and there are at least 4 waterfalls on and around the island. .jpg)
The next day I took some time off to do some wondering on my own. I got a boat across the lagoon and headed for the southern part of the village. Here is where the indigenous Pemón Indians live. There was something heartwarming about these people who live very simple lives but who are incredibly friendly. The children weren't scared or shy of strangers and would giggle as they passed with a "Hola" greeting. The adults were just as friendly. They did have electricity but seemed unspoiled by this. I explored and observed feeling quite comfortable. Small children would carry on playing with their pieces of toys out in the road for there were no cars in Canaima. Other children of maybe 11 years old were coming back from the river after collecting water. .jpg)
Back at the island we heard more about Tomás Bernal who set up the campamento. He was a fine man who had a unique and forward thinking idea of tourism. His motto was "The tourist is my friend." The beautiful story of how he came to Canaima from Peru and set up his camp was recounted to us by his daughter Irma. We heard of his struggles to get the camp established. There was something quite special that evening in hearing the Spanish words spoken by Irma then having them translated by the camp's guide. Tomás was tragically killed two years ago in a waterfall accident and I was left with the feeling that I really would have liked to have met this man. .jpg)
Our stay at Canaima was coming to an end and we had to think about moving on. We were looking to go to Santa Elena de Uairén near to the Brazilian border. However the local airline Rutaca which had run regular flights to Santa Elena had stopped these after one of their planes on this route crashed killing some 24 tourists from Europe. This had only happened a week or two before we arrived. We were told by everyone we asked at the airport that there were no flights to Santa Elena from Canaima. It was looking like we would have to take the flight back to Ciudad Bolivar and then take a 12-hour bus journey to get to Santa Elena. Rather a waste of a plane flight but it seemed we had no choice. This was where Irma, with whom we'd become good friends, stepped in to help us. She contacted the airline via two-way radio and arranged for a flight to make a diversion to Canaima to pick us up. We only found this out later as we spoke to the 2 passengers in the plane who were on a flight from Ciudad Bolivar to Santa Elena. Irma even came to the airfield and gave us lunch and waited till the plane arrived to see us off. Canaima was a lovely experience and I'd like to return someday. Part 4 La Gran Sabana - Land of the Ovnis Our next destination on our trip to Venezuela was the town of Santa Elena de Uarién, close to the Brasilian border. From here we would arrange for a guided tour of the area known as La Gran Sabana. This is a wild region of flat topped sandstone mountains known as tepuis (Pemón Indian word for mountain.) They were formed millions of years ago as the surrounding sediments were eroded away, leaving the more resistant sandstone mountains. The sides of these mountains are typically 1000 metres of almost vertical rise. The animal and plant life flourishing on the tops have evolved differently to those living on the plains below because of their isolation: some species exist on the tops and nowhere else. We wouldn't get the chance to climb the tepuis as it was a trek of some 6 days to explore the most accessible one, Mount Roraima. The region with its evocative prehistoric landscape gave inspiration to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and he wrote "The Lost World." In Santa Elena we booked into the backpackers hostel run by a lovely lady, Gladys, who is completely mad by the way (Trudi - note.) We met other interesting travelers there, including Ricardo, a Venezuelan university student of anthropology who was most affable, and Maja a Yugoslavian lawyer who'd just been on a long trip to Central America and Columbia. Ricardo was planning a trek to Roraima and gathering a group of other travelers as they arrived at the hostel. There was also a skinny black kitten which seemed to be as crazy as Gladys (Tom - note.) We spent the next day deciding on which of the various tours we would go on and getting stressed out trying to get money. None of the banks here would accept our travelers cheques and one of the 2 banks that gave credit card cash advances would only accept Visa. The other one would only give Mastercard advances to local Venezuelans. I had Mastercard, so I later ended up signing over my travelers cheques to our tour guide at a less than favourable rate. Although I did have some cash US dollars I didn't really want to spend them in case I ended up in a Juba type emergency (read Scott Graham's Backpacking & Camping in the Developing World. This book in fact was what gave me the inspiration for traveling to the countries that I do.) Needless to say I now have Mastercard and Visa credit cards. We spent the next 3 days and 2 nights on a relaxed tour of La Gran Sabana, visting many waterfalls, natural bathing pools, viewpoints and sleeping in Indian villages. Our guides, Frank on day 1 and Lennon on days 2 & 3 spoke English well and would frequently stop to allow us to take photographs. A less known fact about La Gran Sabana is that it has an unusually high rate of UFO or Ovni sightings. Maps were for sale listing the locations and various encounters. We asked our guides about this and in all their years of living in the area, they'd never seen anything. Maybe the area reminds our extraterrestrial friends of home or maybe the cloud formations can easily be mistaken for flying craft. But we looked anyway...just in case. |
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I
have always preferred the diverseness of a developing country where
life's values are totally different to ours so that I can attempt to
learn about myself and my values. After some thought however I decided
it wouldn't be that bad to have a nice relaxing holiday to New Zealand
especially after a stressful year and so in late August we met in
Watford library to do some research. We collected all the books from
the shelf and opened them out, admiring the isolated roads against a
backdrop of rugged mountains. I was beginning to get into the feel of
the holiday and decided we needed a map of New Zealand. Back to the
shelf I went. Now in the library the books are arranged with South
America towards the left and Australasia to the right in alphabetical
order by country. By chance I happened to glance at a book with this
most attractive cover. Those of you who know me will not be surprised
to learn that the cover was a picture of this beautiful young woman
but you will be surprised to hear that I didn't take a photograph of
the book. I picked up this book on Venezuela and flicked through the
pages. Rainforests, birds, Andes mountains, Angel Falls, tropical
beaches, lovely people passed before my eyes. A paradise of adventure.
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