Venezuela Mini Eco-Trips
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1 - VENEZUELA - MINI ECO-TRIPS Index Page 1. Cover page one and map of Venezuelan destinations 2. Index page 3. Introduction, Caracas - Canaima (standard 3 day trip) 4. Canaima variations 5. Canaima variations - Orinoco Delta 6. Henri Pitter National Park, Caribbean coastline and beaches (mainland and islands) 7. Caribbean coastline and beaches (mainland and islands) 8. Oriente (north east) - Harpy Eagle Extension (east) 9. Mérida – Mérida / Los Nevados / The Páramos 10. Los Llanos (Hato Cedral) – Los Llanos (General) 11. Maracaibo Lake / Catatumbo Lightning (Nr Mérida) – Autana (Amazonas) 12. Autana (cont/d.) – Trekking: Pan de Azúcar (Mérida) 13. Trekking: Roraima – Auyántepui (Canaima National Park) 14. Trekking: (cont/d) Auyántepui (Canaima National Park) 15. Angel-Eco’s Terms & Conditions 2 - VENEZUELA - MINI ECO-TRIPS During your holidays customize your own itinerary with your friends and colleagues by joining together various mini eco-trips available throughout this beautiful country. For the major Venezuelan holidays such as Semana Santa and Carnival, when all of Venezuela seems to travel, we strongly suggest that you firm up your travel plans well in advance to avoid disappointment. As much as 3-4 months in advance is advisable. Hotels in Caracas can be used at different intervals, such as when you arrive and when you leave, however, since for many, Caracas is “home” - this may be irrelevant. Combine these regional modules to build your own personalized itinerary and help contribute to Angel- Eco Tours and Angel Conservation’s “Proyecto Pemón” - a community based project working directly with the Pemón Indians of Kamarata Valley in Canaima National Park. Caracas Canaima National Park & Angel Falls Departs Daily 4 days Best time to visit – Rainy season (Jun-Dec) Departs Daily 3 days Day 1: Arrive Caracas You are welcomed to Venezuela’s capital and transferred to Day 1: Caracas / Canaima National Park your hotel, well located with a wide selection of facilities. Fly to Canaima National Park, dotted with lagoons and soaring Selection of 3*, 4* and 5*hotels available (no meals) waterfalls pouring over the sheer cliffs of flattop tepuis. You are transferred to your lodge for a day of exploring Canaima, Day 2: Caracas including a curiara ride across the lagoon and a hike to the A half-day tour explores colonial treasures amid Caracas’ thundering Sapo Falls. Rustic (budget) – standard - superior modern façade, and the legacy of native son Simon Bolivar. accommodations available (L,D) Selection of 3*, 4* and 5* hotels available (B) Day 2: Canaima National Park, Angel Falls Day 3: Caracas Take a 3 hr. riverboat trip by curiara to Angel Falls along rivers The day is at your leisure to explore on your own or take surrounded by virgin rainforest and tabletop mountains. Hike to optional tours such as a cable car ride to the top of El Avila. Angel Falls, which pours off a mountaintop 3,212 feet (979 mts) Selection of 3*, 4* and 5* hotels available (B) to the forest floor below. Hike, wade and swim at the foot of the falls. Rustic only (hammocks). (B,L,D) Day 4: Depart Caracas Transfer to the airport for your departing flight. (B) Please note: part of the program for Days 1 & 2 may be reversed at short notice. Day 3: Canaima / Caracas Return to Canaima and fly back to Caracas. (B) Colonial Caracas Please note: most museums closed Mondays in Caracas – airport assistance and transfers included. Angel Falls approach (Rio Churún) 3 Canaima National Park, Kuravaina-Tepui, The whole valley (Kamarata Valley) is overlooked by vast table top mountains; it’s surrounded by savanna grasslands and Kavak & Angel Falls outcrops of rainforest and local indigenous communities. Uruyén Lodge (L,D) Best time to visit – all year round Departs Daily 3 days Day 1: Caracas / Canaima National Park. Kuravaina-Tepui Fly to Canaima National Park, dotted with lagoons and soaring waterfalls pouring over the sheer cliffs of flattop tepuis. You are transferred to your lodge before setting off an adventurous river boat trip, hike / trek to the top of one of the local tepuis – Kuravaina - enjoying a welcome dip in a thermal pool enroute. Rustic (budget) – standard - superior accommodations available (L,D) Day 2: Canaima National Park, Kavak & Angel Falls Take a day trip by plane to Kavak in Kamarata Valley with a spectacular overflight of Angel Falls and Auyántepui. Visit the sacred canyon of Kavak with its stunning waterfalls, Golondrina and Tewanarempa Falls, before flying back to Canaima mid- afternoon. Overnight in Canaima. Rustic (budget) – standard - superior accommodations available (B,L,D) Uruyén Lodge, Canaima National Park Day 3: Canaima / Caracas Take an early morning trip across the lagoon by curiara to either Day 2: Uruyén / Kavak Sapo or Hacha Falls and walk behind their curtain of gushing Rising early for the beautiful sunrise and great photo opportunities water before returning back to Caracas. (B,L) - experience the screeching of flocks of parrots overhead. Hike to Kavak via the indigenous villages of Old Uruyén and Santa Marta. During school session visit the children of Santa Marta in the classrooms or at play. Upon reaching Kavak your Pemón guide will lead you walking, wading and swimming into Kavak’s sacred canyon where you will eventually swim in the pool under its spectacular waterfall. Stay at in a traditional churuata (indigenous lodge) set before the looming wall of Auyántepui. Kavak Lodge (B,L,D) Day 3: Kavak / Canaima Early morning hike to La Toma overlooking Kamarata Valley and Kavak Lodge, visit another spectacular waterfall (Indian Falls). Fly to Canaima for lunch, - in the afternoon enjoy an excursion across Canaima Lagoon by dugout canoe (curiara) to Sapo or Hacha falls and walk behind a cascading curtain of water falling to the lagoon below. Overnight in local lodge. Rustic (budget) – standard - superior accommodations available (B,L,D) View from atop Kuravaina-Tepui Day 4: Canaima / Caracas Morning to relax before your transfer to the airstrip and flight back to Caracas. (B) Canaima National Park – Pemón Lodges & Canaima Best time to visit – all year round Departs Daily 4 days Day 1: Caracas / Uruyén Enjoy your connecting flight in a light aircraft flying over Angel Falls, pouring off a mountaintop an impressive 979mts (3,212 feet) to the jungle floor before landing at Uruyén in the middle of La Gran Sabana. Immerse yourself into the local indigenous culture staying at a picturesque Pemón Indian lodge alongside where Jimmie Angel set up base camp in 1937 and Ruth Robertson some years later in 1949. The local Pemón will be your guides for the next few days taking you on breathtaking hikes into local canyons with spectacular waterfalls and swimming pools in the middle of nature where time has stood still for millenniums. Pemón ritual dance (specially arranged for groups by request) 4 Canaima National Park, Kavak & Angel Falls Orinoco Delta Best time to visit – all year round Best time to visit – all year round Departs Daily 3 days Departs Daily 3 days Day 1: Caracas / Canaima National Park Day 1: Maturín or Puerto Ordaz – Orinoco Delta Fly to the jungles of Canaima, dotted by lagoons and soaring We start our expedition in Maturín or Puerto Ordaz traveling by waterfalls pouring over the sheer cliffs of flattop tepuis. You are road and then by river to the lodge in the Delta. From the transferred to your lodge for a day of exploring, including a comfort of your water-taxi you may observe a wide variety of curiara ride across the lagoon and a hike to Sapo Falls walking flora and fauna, such as the Boral (a river plant), pink dolphins, behind its curtain of water (see below). Rustic (budget) – giant river otters, toucans, macaws, parrots, llanos side neck standard - superior accommodations available (L,D) turtles and even occasionally one may see an anaconda. Along the riverbanks you will see the local Warao indigenous peoples villages with their unique raised dwellings (palafitos), built over the river's edge. Experience the wild, natural habitat of the virgin jungle, your Warao guide will point out edible plants which sustain the natives on hunting trips. Enjoy one of the fabulous Delta sunsets. Typical lodge (L, D) The wrath of Sapo Falls in rainy season, Canaima Day 2: Canaima, Angel Falls overflight and Kavak Soar in a light aircraft over Angel Falls, pouring off a mountaintop 3,212 feet to the jungle floor. With your Pemón guide leading the way, hike, wade and swim into Kavak’s sacred canyon and bathe underneath its waterfall. Lunch in traditional indigenous lodge set Warao guide searching for “food” in jungle before the looming wall of Auyántepui. Return early afternoon to Canaima for relaxation. Rustic (budget) – standard - superior Day 2 & 3: Orinoco Delta accommodations available (L,D) Navigate the Orinoco in search of river dolphins, spectacled caiman, capuchin and red howler monkeys by the river’s edge, hummingbirds, scarlet ibis, toucans, parrots, macaws and kingfishers in the skies and trees above. Try your hand at piranha fishing. Visit Warao villages and their palafitos that line the riverbanks. Your guide will explain about Warao culture, and the flow of the community's daily life. Meet some of the Warao craftsmen / women and negotiate for their handcrafts. Typical lodge (B, L, D) Kavak Canyon Day 3: Canaima / Caracas Early morning free to explore or relax on the pink sands in front of the lagoon before transferring to the airstrip for your flight back to Caracas via Ciudad Bolivar or Puerto Ordaz. (B) Warao guide - Piranha fishing Day 3 – Maturin, Puerto Ordaz, Ciudad Bolivar or Caracas 5 Henri Pittier National Park & La Ciénaga Dive (optional) there are many different locations in and around the lagoon - including two sunken “ships” close by.