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A MAGICAL PLACE BETWEEN
SKY AND EARTH
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Rocky and flat isles float on a carpet of clouds, at a heigth of 2000 or 3000 meters. Their ground is spiked with short, crooked and wild plants, or nearly lunar at some places. The plants are burnt by the heat of the day and hardened by the biting cold of the night. The landscapes are streamed by rain and sun… The Indians called these prehistoric summits " Tepuis ". Their orignine, their flora and their poor fauna date back from the time of the dinausors. Tepuis, or " Gods’ mountains ", because their shape evokes the trunk of a tree thrusting up into the other world. Millions of years formed a strange nature, the ecosystems of which seem not to have evoluated since the Cretaceous period. It is a sanctuary, an extraordinary world… |
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photo©sampers.explorer.ecoguideint.99
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We are between Orenoque and Amazon. The Roraïma, as vast as France, comprises thirty to forty tepuis and as many forests of clouds on the slopes. Essentially located in Venezuela, the area encroaches on the borders of Guyana and Brazil. The peak of Neblina towers at 3014 meters. It was " discovered " in 1953 by an American botanist explorer. These mountains lost in the mist are little known by the scientists. The very special meteorological conditions prevailing there and their almost absolute isolation generated ecosystems and a biodiversity unique in the world.
The cloud -forests of all the continents are seriously threatened.
In the region of Neblina, the very old geological layers conceal amazing quantities of ores. Gold and diamond seekers begin to arrive. A badly controlled tourism and the exploitation of wood could also compromise the durability of the place.
But the forests of clouds hold secrets that can help us to reconstitute a part of the Earth evolution. Their preservation is essential. |
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Ecoguide International
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copyright©1999 Ecoguide International. All rights reserved.
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Neblina
Pelagos