Venezuela is a country blessed by the Creator and has the privilege of having wonderful landscapes for all tastes. It is a country with a diversity of sites that leave anyone speechless. In this installment we will focus on one of the tourist sites of Venezuela that attracts the most visitors, that is, La Gran Sabana.
La Gran Sabana would be said in English The Great Savanna. A savanna is a mixed woodland-grassland ecosystem characterized by the trees widely spaced.
La Gran Sabana is a territory that is located in southeastern Venezuela, in the Guayanas massif.
It also extends to the South-East of the Bolivar State to the border with Brazil and Guyana.
La Gran Sabana is 10,820 square kilometers in length, and is part of one of the largest national parks in the country, Canaima National Park.
The average temperature is around 20 degrees Celsius during the day. In the same way during the night the temperature can go down to 13 ° C.
It is important to highlight that in some of the highest sites of La Gran Sabana, depending on the weather, the temperature may drop a little more.
The landscape extension called La Gran Sabana has a diversity of authentic and unique landscapes. It has rivers, waterfalls and ravines, deep and extensive valleys, impenetrable forests.
In addition to the savannah that houses a large number and variety of plant species. There we can find a diverse fauna. Also in La Gran Sabana we can find the plateaus better known as tepuyes.
Canaima region declared National Park
When there are places where natural resources abound, decisions must be made to protect these spaces.
It is motivated biological, mineral and geographical diversity of this particular region that merited the protection of the territory by the Government of Venezuela.
Meanwhile, Canaima is declared a National Park, by Executive Decree No. 770 dated June 12, 1962.
This park is the second largest in Venezuela
Canaima National Park currently occupies an area of about three million hectares, which makes it one of the six largest National Parks in the world.
However, its original area was one million hectares, and did not include the territory of La Gran Sabana.
La Gran Sabana as a World Heritage
Currently, La Gran Sabana remains an icon with great ecological value. In 1994 the World Heritage Site was proclaimed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). There they granted said title to Canaima National Park.
In addition, the Venezuelan state promotes its conservation and exploration. This beautiful site is visited by Venezuelans and foreigners.
There you can enjoy the variety of natural wonders present in the park and delight so much for the beauty of its sites of interest. One of the most striking things is its unique relief and its profiled landscapes. This is due to the plain in contrast to the beautiful Tepuyes.
Waterfalls, cascades and streams are also part of its beautiful profile. Another thing that attracts the attention of tourists is its diversity of species of fauna and flora.
The latter also attract many scholars and scientists from around the world. Only in the Gran Sabana is 40% of the species of Venezuela, and 23% in terms of reptiles and amphibians, with large numbers of endemic species.
Santa Elena de Uairén the most important city in the region
The most relevant city in the region is Santa Elena de Uairén.
Santa Elena de Uairén has been evolving in recent years and today has a population of approximately 30,000 inhabitants.
This place was founded in 1923 by Lucas Fernández Peña, and arises thanks to the interest of diamonds in the area.
Its average temperature is between 25 and 28 ° C. It is located 910 meters above sea level.
On the other hand, it is located about 15 km from the border with Brazil, 615 km from Ciudad Guayana, and about 1,400 km from Caracas, on paved roads.
The total population of the Gran Sabana is currently estimated at about forty-eight thousand inhabitants.
Geographical aspects of La Gran Sabana
La Gran Sabana is an authentic park with unique characteristics. The beauty of the landscape is accentuated in the Guiana Shield, the oldest geological formation on earth.
It is composed of two geological formations mainly:
- An igneous metamorphic basement with an approximate age of 2,000 million years
- A layer of sedimentary, sandy rocks of the Roraima formation, dating back to approximately 1.7 billion years.
This region suffered several stages of tectonic uprisings and subsidence. Consequently, certain areas of the shield were more exposed to erosion than others
This determined the presence of large sandstone massifs that are isolated. These sandstone massifs are called “tepuyes” in the language of the natives that inhabit the region.
The relief of La Gran Sabana is slightly wavy. The average height is around one thousand meters high, but it can vary quite a short distance.
Its savanna condition is due to the rocky and sandy constitution of the soils. Although you can notice parts of the jungle in some depressions.
In relation to the hydrography of the Gran Sabana, like the rest of Venezuela in general, it is rich in river networks.
The main sub-river basins of this region are composed of the Yuruaní, Aponwao, Kukenán, Suruku, Ikabarú, Karuay, Urimán and Antabare rivers
In the Gran Sabana it is very common to see the so-called tepuys, examples of inverted relief, which make up a class of plateaus typical of the Guiana. These plateaus, in the Gran Sabana, reach their maximum altitude in the Tepuy Roraima, with approximately 2,800 meters above sea level.
Places to visit
The Gran Sabana is full of natural beauties. There are many places to visit if it’s your first time. That is why although everything can be visited, here is a list of “essentials” on your first trip. From the beauties of La Gran Sabana we know that it will not be the last.
Waterfalls to visit
Among the waterfalls in the Gran Sabana, some of the most important are the following:
- Aponwao Falls (Chinak-meru)
- Kamá Meru Falls
- Kamá Mesalto Falls
- Kawí Merú Falls
- Cuquenán Falls
- Yuruaní Falls
- Karuay Falls .
It should be noted that one of the most recognized and mentioned is Angel Falls (Kerepakupai Vená), being this one of the main attractions of this area of Venezuela.
Other places to visit in La Gran Sabana
- La Laja
- El Paují
- The Abyss
- Santa Elena de Uairén
- Kavanayen Mission
- Mount Roraima
How to get to the Gran Sabana?
To get to the Gran Sabana, you must take the paved road that goes from El Dorado to Brazil, or from Venezuela a plane to Santa Elena de Uairén.
To access the most charming places, it is preferable to go in a car with 4-wheel drive.
Other places like Kavak can only be reached by air.
It is certainly an experience worth living at least once in a lifetime …
The Great Savannah A unique place to visit in Venezuela.
La Gran Sabana is one of those magical places in Venezuela. Its diversity of vegetation, flora, fauna and natural resources make this a blessed land.
For those visitors, the recommendation is to preserve the spaces of this beautiful place as much as possible.
For all those nature lovers we invite you to come even once in your life. Coming to the Gran Sabana once is a guarantee to return. We assure you.
Sources
La Gran Sabana – Venezuela (en español)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gran_Sabana
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