Start your trip in the Venezuelan Andes, the Cordillera de Mérida, a remote section of the chain and off-the-beaten-path.
In addition to spending time in Merida you will be traveling with your private guide to quaint mountain villages, glacial lakes, rivers and the highland parámo. Optional activities include day hikes, overnight treks, mountain biking, mountaineering, photography.
Nights will be spent at a Merida hotel and in rustic, comfortable mountain inns and lodges. From the Andes you will fly across the country to Canaima, deep in the Gran Sabana.
This isolated location offers one of the most unusual landscapes in the world, with rivers, waterfalls and gorges, deep and vast valleys, impenetrable jungles and savannahs that host large numbers and varieties of plant species, a diverse fauna and the isolated table-top mesas locally known as tepuis.
Here you will be based at a rustic, but comfortable, lodge from where you can embark on a variety of guided excursions that can include a full-day or overnight trip upriver to the base of Angel Falls. (The trip upriver is dependent on adequate river levels and therefore, subject to seasonal conditions.) Other possible excursions include an exciting overflight of Angel Falls and Auyan Tepui, day trip to Kavak Canyon.
Finish your trip relaxing for a few days in the Los Roques Archipelago, based at one of the many small family-run posadas on Gran Roque. Days can be spent relaxing on Gran Roque or a isolated beach on one of the nearby uninhabited islands, bonefishing or Scuba diving.
Lost World Adventures itineraries can be tailor-made according to your plans and preferences: budget, hotel selections, travel dates, optional excursions, length of trip, etc.
Airport reception and transfer to your hotel.
The Costa Real Suites is conveniently located in Caracas' Central Coast, in the Tanaguarena/Caraballeda area, a 20-minute drive from the airport. There are only 15 colorful suites, with a comfortable bedroom with big windows, private bathroom (shower with hot water), a spacious living room with couches and a double hammock, a/c, fan, cable TV, hairdryer, safe, and minibar/fridge. There is a swimming pool and a restaurant/bar. Breakfast included.
In El Vigia, our transfer guide will be waiting for you at the airport to bring you by car to Merida. In the afternoon an excursion to the colonial village of Jaji, visit a Trapiche, a traditional sugarcane mill and a coffee plantation.
Overnight at the Posada Casa Sol, a bed & breakfast located in downtown Merida, within walking distance of all downtown places of interest. Daily breakfast included.
In the morning, you will visit the Sierra La Culata National Park, in the high valley of the Mucujun River. The paved road ends at an elevation of 3,000 meters, where you will begin a 1-hour hike through Paramo vegetation.
On the return trip to Merida city you will visit the Rey Valley, where trout is farmed, and have lunch there. In the afternoon, you will visit the highlights of Merida city, including the picturesque Mercado Principal. Overnight Posada Casa Sol.
You will go on a hike through the high Andes to Laguna Negra (around 2.5 hours). You will also visit Venezuela´s highest mountain pass, the Pico El Aguila where, on a clear day, you can enjoy a fantastic panoramic view. In the afternoon, you will be driven back to Mérida. Overnight Posada Casa Sol.
This morning you will be transferred to the airport in El Vigia for your flight to Caracas
You will be met at the Caracas Airport upon arrival and assisted to your connecting flight to Puerto Ordaz.
Upon arrival, you will be met and transferred overland to Ciudad Bolívar (1-hour drive).
Casa Grande Ciudad Bolívar is located in a former ancestral colonial house in the city's historic downtown, close to Bolivar Square and the Orinoco River. Rooms have private bathrooms with hot water showers, air-conditioning, fan, fridge, telephone, cable TV. Casa Grande has a restaurant, a small swimming pool, and internet. Safe is available at the reception desk. Breakfast included.
You will be met at your hotel and transferred to the Ciudad Bolivar Airport for your flight to Canaima.
Upon arrival in Canaima, pay National Park fee before transferring to Tapuy Lodge. The lodge is located lakeside on Canaima Lagoon with magnificent views of Hacha, Golondrina and Ucaima Falls.
Accommodations are in 16 simple, comfortable rooms with private bathrooms with hot water, air conditioning, and fan. There is a restaurant and a bar.
The grassy area in front of the lodge is a perfect place to sit back and enjoy the unique backdrop of Canaima National Park, and Canaima lagoon's cool, dark but clear water offers refreshing respite from the Gran Sabana's mid-day heat. Your time at Tapuy Lodge is free to explore on your own or to sign up for additional excursions. All meals are included.
Sapo Falls Half Day Excursion
After lunch at lodge you will leave the camp and take a short walk to the Ucaima Port, where a canoe will be boarded to take you upstream along the the Carrao River for approximately 20 minutes, up the Moroco Canyon to visit the Sapo and Sapito waterfall.
After a short, sometimes steep and slippery, hike through the woods, you arrive at this magnificent waterfall and have the unique opportunity to pass through to the other side behind the water curtain. This is really a breathtaking experience.
Depending on the season, the nearby Mayupa canyon can also be visited. This place is ideal for a nice, refreshing swim.
Excursions available at an additional expense include:
Angel Falls Overflight
Depart in a charter flight for a thrilling 45-minute over flight of Angel Falls and the Devil's canyon. En route you will enjoy views of the Gran Sabana and Auyan Tepui. (Please note overflight is subject to weather conditions)
Half-day excursion to Yuri Falls
For this excursion you leave the camp in jeeps, which will take you on a 20 minute drive through the savannah to Port Verde. Upon arrival in the port you will board a motorized wooden canoe which will take you downstream the Carrao River, alongside exuberant vegetation and beautiful landscapes.
After 20 minutes you disembark at Yuri dock from where you will take a 15 minutes' walk to the Yuri beaches of pink quartz sands. Here you will have the opportunity to take a vitalizing swim in the water and relax on the shore, enjoying this unspoiled spot of nature.
During the rainy season (May until early November) if the river conditions allow it, there will also be a chance to visit a native indigenous village up the Zamuro canyon.
Kavak with Angel Falls Overflight
Setting off early today, a 5-passenger Cessna plane will wing you to the Kamarata Valley, located south east of Auyan-Tepui mountain, reaching the landing strip of Kavac, a small native village at the foot of a steep wall of "Auyan-Tepui" after a 30 minutes flight. In Kavac an indigenous guide from the village will welcome you and take you on a 2 hour walk along the river.
You will have the opportunity to wade through water, walk on the river bed and take a refreshing dip in the water from time to time, until you reach the famous gorge, which holds a 600 feet narrow canyon, fed by a 300 feet waterfall between impressive walls of massive rock.
Upon your return to the village, a delicious chicken, barbecued on sticks over an open fire, fresh salad fruit and bread are served for lunch.
Before returning to the plane you will have some time to walk around the little village, buy some handcrafted souvenirs or just enjoy a moment of relaxation. On the flight back to the camp, if the weather allows it the pilot will deviate from his route and fly over the Angel Fall for a spectacular view from the plane,
*Subject to weather conditions year-round
This morning you will set off for Angel Falls by motorized dugout canoe. The journey follows the Carrao and the Churun rivers. On the way stop at "Pozo de Felicidad" (the Well of Happiness), Isla Orquídea (Orchid Island), "Cañon del Diablo" (Devil's canyon) and Wey Tepui.
The river gets closer and closer to the steep walls of Auyan Tepui, and finally you arrive at Isla Ratón, a small island on the river close to Angels Fall, where you will have lunch.
Afterwards you will hike through a part of genuine rainforest for about an hour, marveling at the variety of ferns, palms and countless other plants, until finally reaching a plateau which offers a fantastic view of the Angel Falls. At 3,212 feet it is the highest waterfall in the world. Its waters form a natural pool at its base which makes it an ideal place to have a bath (river levels permitting).
Walk back to the camp where dinner is already awaiting you. Overnight in hammocks near Isla Raton. All meals included today.
After breakfast and after a final viewing of Angel Falls bathed in the morning sunlight, you start the return trip by boat on the Carrao River, through beautiful savannah landscapes. You will arrive in Canaima around noon. Overnight Tapuy Lodge. All meals included today.
You will have the morning at leisure. You can relax in the Canaima Lagoon or buy crafts at one of the gift shops. In due time you will transfer to the airport for your flight to Puerto Ordaz.
In Puerto Ordaz, an airport assistance will assist you to your connecting flight to Caracas. Airport reception and transfer to your hotel.
Overnight Hotel Costa Real Suites, breakfast included.
Hotel pickup and transfer to the Caracas Airport for your flight to Los Roques.
Upon arrival on Gran Roque, pay entrance tax and proceed to Posada La Gaviota, a small, comfortable and friendly family-run guesthouse with a seaview location on Gran Roque Island. It was a vacation home since 1980 and was converted to an inn in 2003. The inn is just 20 meters from the sea.
All 7 rooms are equipped with private bathroom, satellite TV, safe-deposit box, air-conditioning, ceiling fan. Room #4 is two-story with two bedrooms, two bathrooms, capacity of 5 guests.
All meals are included during your stay. Breakfasts are served beside the beach, lunches served either at the posada or as a boxed-lunch to take with you, candlelit 3-course dinners served by the beach. Daily excursions are included to Madrisqui or Francisqui with chairs and umbrellas provided.
If you are interested in scuba diving, Lost World Adventures can arrange diving and instruction at the local dive shop for a variety of skill levels. From the "Discovery Scuba" course, where you can dive safely with a dive master (no certification obtained) to the highly advanced "Rescue Diver" course (for professional diving), and even the "Jr. Open Water Diver" course in which divers aged 12 to 15 may obtain an internationally recognized certificate, you can find what you need.
Diving at different keys will give you the opportunity to see marine life such as stingrays, grouper, angelfish, barracuda, moray eels, and coral, among others.
For those who would prefer to snorkel, Los Roques is still an underwater wonderland. Healthy reef systems are packed with life and contain thick forests of soft coral, long stretches of virgin hard coral, black coral bushes, brain corals, mounds of star coral and great clusters of gray and brown gorgonia. These warm, unspoiled, azure and aquamarine waters contain as many fish as were found in Belize, Cozumel or the north wall of Cayman, 30 years ago.
Although of the same reef system as Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao, this is no underwater petting zoo. Designated a National Park, all sites in the archipelago are limited to 10 divers, so you get the intimate feeling of diving in untamed, untouched waters.
Most often, you will be the only divers in any given area. Visibility varies, but can reach 100 feet.
No matter where you dive, you will swim among and marvel at immense swirling schools of fish: armies of glassy sweepers, southern sennet, spotted drum, jacks, Spanish mackerel, barracuda, grouper, red, gray and yellowtail snapper, hogfish, tarpon, Queen angels, thousands of silvery blue bogia, trumpet fish, white spotted filefish, smooth trunk fish, colorful tropicals, parrotfish, porcupine puffers, stingrays, moray eels and more.
Among the many spectacular dive sites are the Rock of the Jewfish, which provides an excellent introduction to the following days of diving. Although there are no longer any Jewfish, there is still plenty to see during a 30-minute circumnavigation of this seamount.
Nurse sharks are occasionally spotted at Los Noronkys. At the coral-laden wall at Cayo Sal, you can take a break inside a cavern at 100 feet and watch as tens of thousands of fish swim by castles of hard coral and tall, swaying bushes of soft corals. The wall at Punta Salina starts at 30 feet and drops straight to 180 feet.
You can also include a visit to the Turtle Sanctuary, located in Dos Mosquices Key, a 2 to 2 ½-hour boat trip from Gran Roque. Here you will find an incredible reefs-cape of pristine hard and soft corals.
Fisherman will find Los Roques to be a heaven for flats fishing. Bonefish are abundant year 'round, and tarpon and permit also easily caught in these waters. In this National Marine Park, all fishing is strictly catch and release, and a very limited number of fishermen are permitted to fish daily.
For those who enjoy windsurfing, there is a first class windsurf club located on adjacent Francisky key.
Day at leisure.
You will be escorted to the airstrip for your flight to Caracas.
You will be met at the Caracas Airport upon arrival and assisted to your connecting flight.
| Price from | $3,149.00 per person, based on double occupancy |
|---|---|
| Days | 12 |
| Nights | 11 |
