Cerro Autana

The most rewarding place in the Amazonas in few days

Great, nature allows us to see a Jurassic landscape at the top of the autana, in addition to the history of the indigenous peoples that speaks of the great tree of life.

Magical and enigmatic place, full of indigenous Piaroas who will welcome you in a pleasant and cordial way .....

Cerro Autana, the tree of life, is impressive as it emerges from the jungle and fills visitors with an air of mysticism. This is a view from the community of Ceguera.

The hill Autana, (euwabey or tree of life in Piaroa dialect) is a tepuy that is located in the Venezuelan state of Amazonas, near the border with Colombia. The hill is a geological formation located in the western part of the Guayana shield, north of South America, at coordinates 04 ° 51′33.61 ″ N 67 ° 27′05.51 ″ O / 4.8593361, -67.4515306). It constitutes for the piaroas indigenous people a sacred mountain (known as the Tree of life). The Autana is characterized by a narrow base, an almost flat top surface and almost vertical walls. The summit is about 1220 meters (4003 feet) high. It belongs to the formations known as tepuis, characteristic of the mountain formations and flat-topped plateaus of the Guiana shield. The Autana hill (Wahari - Kuawai) symbolizes the "tree of life" in the oral history and tradition of the Piaroa indigenous people who inhabit the region. The first Europeans to visit the region around the Autana hill were Humboldt and Bonpland in 1800. During 1852-1854 Richard Spruce and Alfred Russel Wallace made numerous observations and collected botanical collections. Cerro Autana is the symbol of the Autana region which includes Cerro Autana itself, a smaller adjacent mountain frequently referred to as the "Autanita", the Cuao, Autana and Umaj-aje rivers and Lake Leopoldo / Lake Autana. Cerro Autana was declared a Natural Monument in 1978, which also included part of the Autana River and Lake Leopoldo. The mountain is internationally known for BASE-type climbing, mountaineering and skydiving activities. Cerro Autana, like other mountains in the region, are the remains of a large sandstone plateau that previously covered a basal granite complex between the northern limit of the Amazon River basin and the upper Orinoco River basin, between the coast. of the Atlantic and the Black River. The typical topography of a flat surface at the top of the mountain is formed when water seeps through junctions in the stratification planes, silicon cement dissolves, quartzite breaks down, and large blocks collapse leaving walls almost vertical and accumulating rock complexes at the foot of the steep walls. Filtered water forms underground river systems with complex cave and gallery systems. Many times, the water rises in the steep areas forming waterfalls. The Autana Hill, although composed of almost horizontal strata of sandstone, contains caves and other karst formations that occur infrequently in non-limestone rocks. These formations are the result of the dissolution of cemented sandstone complexes that contain certain proportions of limestone with parts that contain a higher proportion of calcium carbonate. This process leaves large empty spaces that appear in Cerro Autana as interconnected caverns and a large space with a vaulted ceiling. This vaulted room has two uneven openings that pierce the side of the mountain and peek into a balcony on the vertical walls. One of these openings is so small that it cannot be identified from the base of the mountain. Some of the cavernous passages have collapsed in recent years. A particular type of quartzite found in the main cave (400 meters long and 45 meters high) is Sveita, a name given in recognition of the Venezuelan Speleology Society whose members collected the first samples.