Mount Roraima – a place where time stood still two billion years ago (16 photos)

This isn't just a mountain, but a floating island of sorts, its plateau rising 2,337 meters above the emerald sea of ​​jungle.





This landscape looks like it was transported straight from the set of a sci-fi blockbuster, but before us is a completely real, breathtaking natural wonder.



Mount Roraima is a natural fortress shared by Venezuela, Brazil, and Guyana. The borders of these countries converge on its gigantic plateau-like summit. It is protected on all sides by sheer cliffs as tall as skyscrapers (400 meters). Only the most experienced climbers can scale these walls, but for mere mortals, there is a trail—a natural slope of the mountain—which typically takes two days to climb.





However, Roraima deserves attention for more than just its impenetrable walls. Part of Venezuela's Canaima National Park (covering an area of ​​30,000 km²), it is the highest point in the Guiana Highlands. The mountains of this massif, including Roraima, are considered some of the oldest geological formations on Earth, estimated to be two billion years old.



Carnivorous pitcher plant (Nepenthes)

Almost daily rainfall has created a unique ecosystem here with numerous endemic species: from carnivorous pitcher plants found nowhere else on the planet to some of the highest waterfalls in the world.



Still from the animated film "Up" (2009)

For the indigenous peoples of these lands, the mountain has historically been sacred and central to their myths. This wild world of rocks and jungle inspired Arthur Conan Doyle's dinosaur-infested "The Lost World," and Pixar filmmakers to depict the majestic Paradise Falls in the animated film "Up" (2009).





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