Roraima 3 "What a doddle´!"

With a fairly early start we spent breakfast looking up at the mist covered ramp. Anxious but excited we began the hardest day of the trek. Climbing on all fours for the first half hour we clambered up the steep ground but spirits continued to stay high. As we climbed on we were able to catch glimpses through the trees of what we had left behind the savanna still stretching into the distance and base camp growing fainter as we trekked on up the steep and difficult terrain. After the open land of the past 2 days the more jungle like route provided the group with a change of scenery. From around us trees reached up into the sky, roots, logs and boulders lay in our path as the group carefully made tracks up the ramp. The futher we trekked the more exicted we became, and so the belief grew that the group could in fact get to the top. After and early lunch the group pressed on, passing under two waterfalls saw the group donning thier previously unused waterproofs. Looking up through the forest the Tepui rose to dizzying heights above us. The top however did begin to come into view, after one final stop it was just another 30minutes up the ramp. The group pushed on and finally after 5 1/2 hours we reached the top! Delighted but exhausted the group were totally elated and proud of thier achievement, even if Anna thought "Roraima was a doddle!"

The top of the mountain was awesome. Truly the most bizarre landscape I´m sure any of us had witnessed. Deep moon like craters, rocks balanced on top of one another, sand, shallow pools with the endemic plants growing from them and then the ´hotels´massive overhangs of rock with enough room for all the groups´tents underneath. A few of the group ventured to the edge of the moutain. The sheer vastness that met us is hard to describe. The immense savanna over which we had trekked lay spread out before us, the tiny path visible at points across the rolling hills, clouds lay shadows over the land. The vertical drop from the edge was spectacular and breathtaking. With the Kukenan Tepui to the right we could clearly see the feat we had accomplished. Morale was high and high and rightly so, the group looked forward to exploring the summit the following morning.