THE STORY

Not all have been so fortunate. Like Roraima, Auyantepui does not make life easy for visitors intent on exploring its misty summit or its canyons. Many have died or suffered serious injury in the attempt. The local Indians will tell you about the mischievous spirits that lurk on the Tepuis, waiting to hurl misfortune on those who trespass on the summits, and it's a common observation by those who climb these mountains: one feels strangely oppressed, like an intruder in a hostile place.

A Tepui in clouds

DC3 Wreck, Near Auyantepui

The Tepuis are also treacherous for those fly aeroplanes. The abrupt cliffs are often shrouded by cloud, and maps are not detailed enough to protect an unwary pilot from flying straight into hidden cliffs; and around their sheer walls, turbulence, winds, and powerful down draughts can pull an aircraft into places from which it is not possible to escape. It is also easy to become lost when flying over the endless forest; engine failures have claimed many lives. With no clearings in which to attempt an emergency landing, an aeroplane plunges through the forest canopy, the leaves and branches springing back to swallow up the evidence. The chances of escape are slim and the chances of being found and rescued negligible. Tepui country is littered with old aeroplane wrecks.

If it wasn't for aviators though, most of this country would still be completely unknown. In the sixties, a pilot was flying around a small Tepui called Autana, far to the west. Autana is spectacular: it is actually higher than it is wide and its tiny summit sits isolated atop sheer cliff walls rising almost vertically for 4,000 feet from near sea level forest.

The unique feature of Autana though is a cave system, some 800 feet below the summit, the huge tunnels passing through the mountain from one side to the other. These ancient tunnels are claimed to be the oldest caves in the world, and represent an underground river system of old time, now seen in cross section. It is difficult to say when water last flowed through these tunnels, but they were formed some 300 million years ago, before life appeared on this planet, at a time when the summit of this tiny Tepui, along with the summits of the other Tepuis were joined, and represented the old level of the land.

Cerro AUTANA