WHERE´S 'THE LOST WORLD' BY ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE?
It is here, at Mount Roraima, also known as Tepuy Roraima and Cerro Roraima. First described by the English explorer Sir Walter Raleigh in 1596, its 31 km2 summit area consists on all sides of cliffs rising 400 metres (1,300 ft). The mountain also serves as the triple border point of Venezuela, Brazil and Guyana.
Mount Roraima lies on the Guiana Shield forming the highest peak of Guyana's Highland Range. The tabletop mountains of the park are considered some of the oldest geological formations on Earth, dating back to some two billion years ago in the Precambrian.
Many of the species of the flora and fauna found on Roraima are unique to the plateau. It rains almost every day of the year. Low scanty and bristling vegetation is also found in the small, sandy marshes that intersperse the rocky summit. Most of the nutrients that are present in the soil are washed away by torrents that cascade over the edge, forming some of the highest waterfalls in the world.
Since long before the arrival of European explorers, the mountain has held a special significance for the indigenous people of the region, and it is central to many of their myths and legends. The Pemon and Kapon natives of the Gran Sabana see Mount Roraima as the stump of a mighty tree that once held all the fruits and tuberous vegetables in the world. Felled by Makunaima, their mythical trickster, the tree crashed to the ground, unleashing a terrible flood.
The adventures of the explorers Im Thurn and Harry Perkins in the mid-19th century may have inspired Arthur Conan Doyle's seminal book about people and dinosaurs, The Lost World, published in 1912.
In 2009, Mount Roraima served as inspiration for a location in the Disney/Pixar animated movie Up. Today, Mount Roraima is a destination for backpackers. Almost all who go up the mountain approach it from the Venezuelan side. Although the path to reach the plateau is well marked and popularly traveled, it is easy to get lost on top of the mountain, as there are few distinct trails and the near constant cloud cover on top and the uncanny rock formations make visual references problematic.
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