Mount Roraima hike in Venezuela * The world as I see it

By Will Hatton

Trails around the world present
MT. Roraima hike in Venezuela

The jungle soil rushed to meet me while I stumbled forward, rain leaves unleashed through the canopy, my heavy bag on my back, each step a battle with the oozing mud and suck. It was not what I expected …

I had the chance to visit many of the most impressive summits in the world, for a few, to be defeated by others.

I am far from being a professional mountain climber, referring to myself as an enthusiastic amateur. The amateur being the keyword … I am more a hike than a climber and when it comes to denigrating the equipment in the face of a mountain to support a rope, I am sort of sucked.

Roraima, the highest mountain in the world, fortunately requires no technical climbing skills in the mountains.

If you can hack your way through the jungle, if you can face the scorching heat of the open plains and the ruthless hordes of mosquitoes, it is possible to simply walk to the top of the mountain.

I say walk but crawl can be a better term, the path is so smooth with mud in places that you should considerably reduce your center of gravity or risk slipping to your destiny. Each year, the mountain wins some lives.

These days, few people venture into Venezuela and the few that make almost all of them costly organized visits.

Travel independently in Venezuela is a truly unique experience, to start, everyone on the backpacker path through Central and South America will tell you that you are crazy, even considering. It is the Kidnap capital of the world and the capital of Venezuela, Caracas, has the highest rate of murder of one of the world cities.

Civil disturbances and rapid inflation brought the country to their knees and yet backpackers still have a place here. Some maintain that visiting a country in the midst of a financial crisis is irresponsible, even contrary to ethics, but the fact is that the backpackers of Venezuela are one of the few sources of foreign investment that still flow in the country.

For a five-day trek made up of permit, food, camping equipment and an experienced local guide, I only paid eighty dollars. A similar trek, for example, Brazil would have cost this ten times.

Even more attractive than low prices, Venezuela is a playground for adventure backpackers; With the highest cascades in the world, the tribes of the jungle not contested, the isolated beaches, the beautiful women, the plains of surprising wetlands of Los Llanos and, of course, very inexpensive beer; Venezuela offers incredible opportunities for real adventures.

I love the mountains, I always liked the mountains. It was however my first attempt to summarize a tropical summit.

Mt. Roraima, the highest mountain in the world, dressed in jungle and hidden in the clouds, a hard and ruthless country of twisted vegetation and rock swept by wind, icy nights and burnt mornings.

I spoiled in vain in a mosquito, looking up, the mountain disappearing in the clouds, before sighing, moving my bag and starting to move once again.

I spent a sleepless night throwing and turning, the freezing cold penetrating my sleeping bag while the first frozen lights of light slipped through the clouds.

I woke up early, which comes out of my tent.

My guide Hardy Mountain was already in place and pushed a cup of hot coffee in my hands.

“If we go now, hike over three kilometers, we can take a break in the mist”

I was dressed and ready to go in thirty seconds. That’s why I came.

Together, we left in the swampy wasteland of treacherous drops and hanging vegetation, we have passed light water pools surrounded by fantastic crystal formations, sacred for the mountains.

The cloud cover was heavy, reducing the visibility a few meters, but I slipped, confident in my guides capacities.

“Stop!”

Panic in his voice.

I stopped … on the edge of a drop leading to nothing.

We turned, in search of a new path, in a snake slowly but surely through the top of this powerful Tepui to the edge.

Luxury windows in the mist have appeared, flash and you will miss it, offering overviews of the scene below.

In front of us, another huge tepui, a waterfall flowing from the side, dressed in jungle and roaring in heaven.

Below us, the great plains of the savannah extending as far as they could see.

Slowly, teasing, the clouds were moving away and the whole scene was revealed …

The mud, the mosquitoes, the shit food and the nights worse, while worth it.

Roraima is a land like the others, it is a place lost in time.

Visit now, before mass tourism arrives here.

About the will:: Writer and photographer. Adventurer and vagabond. Push-up master in hand. Conqueror of the mountains, surviving deserts and the crusader for cheap escapades. Will is currently hitchhiking from England to Papua New Guinea, a trip that will take more than three years. Will Blogs on The Broke Backpacker on his adventures in some of the least visited countries in the world, you can follow him Facebook and on Twitter. For a real-time adventure, consult it on Snapchat in Wthatton

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