7-Day Trekking Adventure to Mount Roraima

Far away from all the chaos of the Venezuelan cities, lies the home of the tepuis; flat-top mountains from the Precambrian era. The Canaima National Park in the vast state of Bolivar, is a natural reserve better known for their ancient landscapes and its indigenous habitants, the Pemon tribe.

One of the most famous tepuis in the park is the Mount Roraima, known between the indigenous as the “Mother of all Waters”. It is 9,219 ft long and can be found in the triple frontier between Venezuela, Guyana and Brazil, but can only be accessed to from the Venezuelan side. The Pemon tribes have been exploring it from hundreds of generations and it wasn’t until a few decades that they started guiding tourists to the top of the mountain.

I started dreaming about doing this trekking adventure since 2013, that year the Venezuelan director Claudia Pinto released her debut film, “La Distancia Más Larga” (The Longest Distance). This road-movie tells the story of a woman that has a terminal disease and wants to hike up to Mount Roraima one last time. My favorite travel company, my mom, and I were inspired by the landscapes shown in the movie so we started investigating how we could do that trip ourselves. But it was not as easy as it seemed. It required being in a good physical condition as you have to walk for 6+ hours daily for seven days, climb at some points of the way, undergo extreme temperature conditions, and carry your 20-25lbs backpack while you are at it. But the way we saw it, as the Spanish saying goes “carne con gusto no pica” (If you like the scratching then you do not mind the lice).

Years later, the trip was still in our minds, when on the 2016’s Christmas Eve, my cousin, Gaby, walked to my mom and told her “I am moving to Spain, and I do not want to leave Venezuela without doing everything in my bucket list, so what do you think going with me to Roraima?” and with that being said, on January 3rd we took a flight from Caracas, the capital city and also where we all used to live in, to Puerto Ordaz, the city where the trip starts.

As soon as my brother, Diego, learned we were going to this adventure, he immediately decided he was going with us since he could not believe the two of us were going on our own. So, Gaby found a group in which, counting my family, we were 30 people. The two guys planning the trip found a guide, Edgar, the indigenous Cacique (Chief) of San Francisco de Yuruani, a small town near our destination.

We only had a week to prepare ourselves, we did a lot of research to find what we could take for the trekking trip. Not much things can be taken over there, in fact, we had to repeat a mantra while deciding what to wear and eat. “Everything I take with me; I will have to carry in my back for seven days”. But I will make another story about what I learnt to pack to those trips and most important, how to.

First things first, to go to Canaima, the national park, you have to flight to the city of Puerto Ordaz, the nearest city that has an airport. In there, we met the whole group in a hotel where we rented a bus to take us to meet our guide. The road trip was 8-hours long and we traveled during the night so we could get to San Francisco de Yuruani by dawn. From the city to the small town, most of the view is to the kilometric and vast savanna, but since it was dark, there was not much you could appreciate. But the moment we arrived at the village, that first sunrise we found when we got off the bus, was just magical. These bright orange and pink colors decorating the sky was the perfect start for the great adventure to come.

After meeting the guide and his crew, we took rustic jeeps for a two-hour ride to get to the nearest point, the town of Paraitepui. As we were told, the trip used to start from there, but about a decade ago, a crew from National Geographic went to film a documentary about Roraima, and for that, they made a small road so the jeeps could get nearer to the base, with the permission of the villagers.

Once we got to our next destination, we had to sign our entry to the tepuy with the park rangers. That helps them control the amount of people climbing and who is the guide responsible for you in case you never make it back. We were also told some of the rules, others we had to learn on our way up. First of all, do not take quartz, crystals, or any kind of rock from Roraima, because as the pemones say, you would get coursed. And also, because they might check your bags on your way out, and you do not want to be that person that gets caught stealing.

Second, and the one I always tell because is odd and we have tons of fun stories related to it: everyone is responsible for bringing back their trash, including their own solid waste, the number two discharge. The top of the mountain is pure rock, meaning there is no ground for it to decompose, and the cold keeps it rigid. No one wants to find that. Third, do not scream in the top of the tepui because Roraima gets mad and she covers herself in fog, taking away your view at the landscape. It is mostly from superstition, but a few occasions made me a complete believer of the supernatural tales the pemones told us.

Right after doing the check in, our trip starts. The first day we had to hike from the town of Paraitepui to Camp Kukenan, a 15-kilometers distance. For the most athletic and prepared hikers, it can be easily done in four hours. A few not so big hills and the view to the enigmatic and beautiful savanna. For the rest of us not so trained, it can take up to 6 hours, but the spectacular scenery helps. Even when the view to Mount Roraima is overwhelming. As you see it from the distance, it looks enormous and there is not exactly a view to the ramp where you are supposed to start climbing, so it just looks like a big rock. Also, we were traveling during the wintertime, which meant, it was going to be cold for the most part. But it was not only the cold, it was also the fog and the rain that made it, from the very first day, intimidating. Roraima was always cloudy, so we could never take good pictures of it, but right next to it was Kukenan Tepuy, also a trekking destination, but way more challenging and for expert climbers only. This tepuy always looked stunning with the sun illuminating it and the big trees that surrounded it.

Kukenan Tepui

Because I was with my mom, it took us a little bit more. It was just the first day and we had to take it slow. Everyone in the group went according their own capacities, the road was clearly marked so no one got lost on the first day. However, because we took longer than expected, it started getting dark while we were still on the way. I will admit our tardiness might have had something to do with the constant stops to take pictures, during the sunset, we were so caught up with how surreal and dreamy it looked, we did not notice we still had to cross over a 130 feet wide river.

We had to get our headlamps to keep going. Crossing the Tek river in the dark was dangerous even for the villagers and because it was at a high-water level, it was worst. My nerves got the worst of me and I was about to start panicking when I finally saw the river from the last hill. My brother with the guide were waiting for us there, to help us cross it. The rocks are loose, and the river flow was strong enough to drag us. But we made our way through it and finally got to the camp Kukenan, as safe as we could be ready to make our tents. We did not even have time to think about what just happened, but we had one thing clear; we had to wake up earlier and start the hike before everyone else.

The second day, we started feeling how destroyed we were, and we were barely getting started. The next destination was Base Camp, as the name indicates, we get as close as we can to the base of the mountain. It is a 10km hike, but it is not the length that makes it challenging. It is the tall hills that you must go through. As we planned, we left before everyone else so we could get to the camp on time.

The weather changes were unbelievable, at the flat road parts, the sun was merciless, and up the hills, it was pouring rain. But again, the landscape was so wide it could make you feel so small. There were giant rocks everywhere and Roraima started getting closer and closer, until we were not able to entirely see it. After an exhausting journey, we got to the camp as early as we wanted to get.

The group was starting to feel less like strangers and more like a family. That day we went to a river nearby to get a bath and because we still had a couple of hours more of daylight, we took pictures and got to know everyone better. There was this lady that knew how to do injections, so everyone started getting their B12 shots with her. An Italian man brought by his cousin was always making everyone laugh and the two men that planned the whole trip really made the group bound. We had an amazing night, and on top of that we found out we had a famous Venezuelan singer in the group. He was part of the Grammy-Award winner band “Voz Veis”. He was so quiet no one never noticed, until his friend asked him to sing, and when he did then a lady recognized him, and it was such an astonishing moment.

After the wonderful night we had, the third day arrived and all I can say is that this was my favorite and at the same time worst part of the adventure. This is the day we have to get to the top of the tepuy and to do so, we had to go up through a path that was more climbing than hiking. My mom, as the warrior she is, stayed with the two guys on the front, they helped her all the way up and during the first three or four miles my brother and I didn’t even see her since she left us to keep going as fast as she could. But we got together later, for one of my favorite parts of the trip.

The time you touch the wall of Roraima for the first time is exceptional. Pemones say that if you make a wish when touching it for the first time, she will grant it to you. I closed my eyes and the connection I felt as soon as my hand reached the stone was magical, all I could feel was peace. It transmitted me such a good energy I felt like I could do anything. To this day I can say she did grant me my wish.

What came next, was pure adrenaline. Now we had to hike a little bit more to get to what its called the “Road of Tears”. This is a sloped ramp of loose rocks, with a waterfall falling over you and on the other side, the abyss, adding the steady downpour of that day. This is the scariest moment of the trip since you need to be extremely careful in every step of the way, while also trying not to look down the abyss. Not recommended for anyone with acrophobia at all. I got soaking wet after going through that road, but I was so happy in it. I remember looking at my cousin, Gaby, and we were both so excited to be present in that place at that moment, feeling the strong winds with the view of the waterfall from the inside, and during that fleeting sensation I felt greater than I ever had.

This hour was so emotional for all of us, the moment we were climbing and jumping from rock to rock, we all felt so much adrenaline and the excitement of finally reaching the top. The last peak of the summit was very hard and we had to pass over a small path in between the gigantic rocks, when suddenly I saw a hand reaching out to me. It was the guide, Cacique Edgar, who was welcoming me to the top of Roraima. Next thing I knew I was crying, my mom received me with a hug, and I felt so proud of my mom for achieving her dream and not giving up after all those years, a truly valuable lesson from her.

We decided to wait for the rest of the group nearby, but what I did not realized is that I was soaking wet. We all were, but in my roller coaster of emotions I forgot, so suddenly I started to shiver. It was estimated to be below the 30 degrees Fahrenheit and I was just wearing leggings and a long-sleeved shirt, yet I tried to keep up with it because a funny scene was happening.

All the boys were signing one of the most famous songs of the boyband the singer was part of while he was reaching the top. We all laughed, and everyone was too happy to even realize how cold we actually were. My brother was the one that realized I stopped walking around to just sit down and he got scared when he saw me go from red to purple, and this is where the bad part starts.

The shiver got worst, and I was not able to speak, I tried to but all I could do was stammer. I felt like I could not breath anymore and everything got blurry. My brother ran to get my backpack and find my jacket. That is the moment everyone realizes how every gram of that heavy, warm jacket that was causing you too much weight on the way up, is totally worth it. Also, one of the most helpful tips I got was top put everything inside Ziploc bags so my clothes could survive the downpours and stayed dry.

Back to my hero, my brother removed my wet clothes while I couldn’t even lift an arm and he used all the clothing he could find from his and mine to put it on me. Then he went for my feet trying to warm them by using his breath and pressing his hands over them. When I asked him later, he said he saw it in a first aid episode of Discovery Channel. Last intent to keep me from hypothermia was to start making my tent so I could rest inside and not feel the winds directly.

It was starting to get too late to go anywhere else to camp and there was a couple that hadn’t made it to the top by that time, so the guide decided we had to stay there, outdoors, without a source of water nearby or a roof over our tents. This night we call it the ‘thriller night’ of the trip. Everyone made their tents and got in them with not much we could do to keep us from the low temperatures, and of course, it rained the whole night.

The next day, our third day, I got up to see everyone extremely mad about how bad the night was. We all had problems with water coming in our tents and some did not have anything else dry to put on. But all I could see was how apocalyptic the top looked. The day before it was foggy and then I got the hypothermia that did not let me move. But that morning, I felt renovated and back in the game. We had to go find a place to stay for the next two nights. So, our guide took us to a ‘hotel’, this cave called Guacharo, for us to make our tents under a roof since it was going to be raining for the rest of our stay.

These two days we spent at the top of Mount Roraima were quite an experience. The third day we walked to the jacuzzis, water-filled holes made from erosion of the sandstones full of quartz and many precious minerals. It was cold but I did not care I almost froze to death the day before, I got into those natural pools. They are beautifully looking, with red stone, pink sand around them, and the water looks bright green from the crystals.

Next, we went to the Maverick, the highest point of Roraima, we had to climb a little bit more again, but half of the group preferred to stay at the camp to rest. There was not much to see as the inclement weather got the top foggy and we could not stop blaming each other for screaming too loud, as the pemones told us, Roraima does not like loud voices, so she got cloudy again. Everyone started at some point to believe in all those convictions.

We still hiked a lot in the top, there are many points to visit, like the Triple Point, were you get to be in three countries at the same time, Venezuela, Brazil and Guyana. There is also a Valley of Crystals to see the minerals and variety of rocks, but the weather was not giving us much enthusiasm to check them as they were miles away. The path was not clear at all, the pemones told us to look for the pink

sandy path to guide ourselves, but I could never really see it. Others did, but I guess I have a bad sense of orientation.

Those nights we felt the peace within ourselves and the pride of overcoming all the obstacles. The descent was easier, so we covered more miles. I felt so plenty and fulfilled I could not stop smiling all the way back. The rest of the trip was going down again through the scary ‘Road of Tears’ and passing the Base Camp all the way to the Tek river. The last night most of us decided to camp outside the tends to see the stars, as they were brighter as ever because of the clear sky. I felt like I have been there for months, but eventually we knew we had to say goodbye to Roraima, an aventure I will never be able to forget.