Thursday, 17 July 2008

Cycling La Gran Sabana in Venezuela

The "Great Savannah" is located in the south eastern corner of Venezuela and extends slightly into Brazil and Guyana. It is a rocky plateau of grassland characterized by tabletop mountains called tepuis.

Possibly a perfect elevation to ride at here in the tropics as its not so hot. I did suffer a bit of cold in my hammock at night though. Click on the map if you want a larger view. Its a tourist map of the route showing the tepuis in orange. Not all of the "services" shown on the map were actually there or open.
Long straight roads with uphills that look a few hundred meters long, and are actually a couple of kilometers. My camera has a 10 second timer, and you cant adjust it. Therefore its a mad rush to get a shot like this.
They have a type of sandfly in the savannah that makes life alot less comfortable. Its much smaller than the NZ sandfly, but has a similar nature exept that its bites leave behind little blood blisters.There are many waterfalls to see. This was one of the most popular ones, and right beside the road which was good for me. I slept the night in a little hut nearby. The tepuis are seen very clearly in the background.
Tepui means "house of the gods", and they are the oldest exposed rock formations on the planet. They are known for their unique flora y fauna because they are like forest "islands" because their sheer cliffs rise abruptly 1000m from the surroundings.


Robert said...

Dude, those roads look smooth...smooth enough for skating, even? What do you think?


matt said...

Hey rob,
those roads were beutiful wide smooth roads with not much trafic.
the terrain is undulating the whole way, then finally you get down into brazil and its smooth and flat. you could probably sail hapily all the way to manaus in the amazon.
as for the rest of venezuela, im not sure i would recomend it.