Roraima Trek

After an overnight bus trip, six of us arrived at Sainte Elaine, near the Brazil border. This was the base from which we did a six day, five night trek to Roraima. I borrowed a packback from one of my fellow travelers. We had to carry our personal stuff that we needed for six days, but not the tent nor food. The guide and two porters took care of that gear. They also cooked for us and we ate very well.

Roraima is a high plateau, jutting over a 1000 meters over the Grand Sabana (savannah). This isolated flat mountain top has very unique species of plants and animals, like a black frog that only crawls and does not jump. Its landscape is very barren, almost moon like in quality. It is other worldly. (It was the inspiration for Sir Coylan Doyle´s The Lost World).

The first day involved driving to the trail head. After lunch we headed off. It was about a 12 km hike to camp. The next day we did another 10km to the base of the plateau. This involved an elevation gain of 800 meters. The third day was the actual ascent. Though only 2.5 km it took four hours to do. That´s because we had to go up 900 meters, with some very steep and slippery sections. Once on top, we camped under a ledge that provided protection from the weather. It can be very rainy around Roraima, especially at this time of year. But fortunately, the rains while we hiked was minimal.

We stayed two nights on the top. So the fourth day was spent just exploring the landscape of this unique ecosystem. In between the clouds, we got some views of the cliff face and savannah below.

Day five involved a long hike, returning over the same territory we had covered on days 2 and 3. Though downhill might seem easy, you had to very careful about your footing. As a result, it took just as long. Day six repeated day one. We finished by lunch time, tired and a little worn, but thoroughly pleased that we had done the Roraima Trek.

Thankfully the next day was a chill out day in Sainte Elaine, where we could do laundry and catch up on this blog and my dairy. Tomorrow we cross the border into Brazil.