Canaima, pronounced in English as in Can-I-ma, is a National Park located in Venezuela's Guayana region, south of the Orinoco River, in the area known as the Gran Sabana.

With an area of three million hectares (3,000,000 Ha), it is one of the largest national parks in the world.

Bolívar State, Venezuela

Hacha falls

Chinak merú falls

Canaima Lake (1)

The most ancient rock formations in the world's geochronology are found here, and are specially visible at the top of the tepuys. Dating from the Precambrian period, they are assumed to have been formed between 1.5 and 2 billion years ago.

Erosion by wind and water have carved these rocks into the most bizarre forms. No wonder the natives consider the top of the tepuys sacred places, inhabited by Gods and the spirits of their ancestors.

The most conspicuous geological features in Canaima are the tepuys, tabletop mountains with vertical walls carved by the erosion of millions of years. The tepuys emerging abruptly out of the grasslands and thick jungles make one of the most dramatic views you can imagine.

The relative isolation of the top of the tepuys, combined with their very particular environment, have resulted in fauna and flora that are mostly endemic and not found anywhere else in the world.

Ptary-Tepuy and Indian churuata (2)

Indian communities in Canaima National Park are ethnically Pemón, belonging to the Arekuna, Taurepane and Kamaracoto families. Nearby, west of the National Park live the Yekuana (Maquiritate) Indians.

The Pemón Indians, for whom the word Pemón means people, have very interesting and whimsical views of the cosmos, their relationships to nature, and one of the most equitable systems of social organization.

Photography Credits:

(1) Jose Antonio Pantin
(2) Dominic Hamilton
(3) Jérôme Bernard-Abou
(4) Carol Witham
(5) www.lpf.com