Mt. Roraima,South America

The incredible top of Mount Roraima, the 1.8 million year old sandstone plateau. It is also called Roraima Tepui or Cerro Roraima. The geological marvel is one of the oldest formations on Earth, a natural border between Venezuela, Brazil and Guyana in South America. The mountain is part of Venezuela’s Canaima National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Angel Falls is also part of this beautiful park. Roraima’s highest point is Maverick Rock at 2,810 meters (9,219 feet). For nature and landscape lovers, Mount Roraima is said to have some of the most fascinating hiking trails in the world.Arthur Conan Doyle populated the tepui Roraima with dinosaurs, strange vegetation and animals in his book, The Lost World, based on the accounts of British explorers Everard IM Thum and Harry Perkins who were the first Europeans to ascend Mount Roraima in 1884.

Subsequent explorations and modern day climbers and trekkers find no dinosaurs, fossils or traces of prehistoric life on the top of the tepui, but they do find a fantastic world of cystal valleys, gorges, sandy beaches, mists and fog, fissures, rock formations, pools and waterfalls. Mount Roraima is the tallest of the table mountains called tepuis and is located in the southeastern corner of Canaima National Park, near the borders of Brazil and Guyana.

This is the land of tropical savannahs, cloud forests, tepuis, rivers and waterfalls. Roraima is one of the most recommended climbs in South America, and most people allow eight days for the trip. However, this allows only one day on the top of the tepui, which isn't enough time to properly explore all the nooks and crannies. Unfortunately, backpackers are limited by what they can carry.