Treking the Gran Sabana

Following the tight squeeze into the jeep, our Speedy Gonzalez driver tore through the gentle undulating hills of the Gran Sabana like there was no tomorrow. It would have been more enjoyable had we not been feeling a little queasy. A ride like that should never be undertaken on an empty stomach, and Jon felt a lot better after taking up Francisco’s (an awesome Argentinean from Buenos Aires) offer of a square or two of his chocolate. Each of the “small” blocks were like a whole bar and the milk chocolate taste and silky texture was simply divine! Once in Paraitepuy, we had arrived at our starting point for the trek towards Roraima and were immediately hit by the warm and somewhat dusty air of the surroundings. We had also heard bad stories about hungry swarms of mosquitoes and even smaller and subtler puri-puri, so of course the occasional wasp and small fruit flies weren’t going unnoticed either. Our guide, Beneton, whipped up a light lunch of delicious ham and cheese sandwiches to pump us full of energy for the forward march. The distant view of Monte Roraima and his neighbour, Kukenan Tepuy, was marvellous and clouds blanketed themselves around the mountains and in between, whilst leaving the extensive savannah completely clear. The grassy hills and valleys were varying in shades of greens and light-yellow, and also patches of jet black due to controlled burning like we saw in Burma last year, plus high coppices hid very well the loud insect life and the sharply screeching ducks. The first day was very enjoyable and a bit of a doddle, since crossing the streams merely involved short strides from stone to stone and we ran at the massive, steep hills with determination. In all honesty, however, we hadn’t used up any of our battery power by this time as it was only day one. For even the best of us, this was shortly about to change as the true ascent of the target Tepuy neared.