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Travel Pictures - VENEZUELA - 1995

All images © Ron Miller

     Venezuela, only a few hours by plane from Miami, is a completely different world. In fact, during my visit, I traveled to Venezuela's famous Lost World where towering tepuis hide the world's tallest waterfall. At the time, Venezuela had a stagnant economy in spite of its valuable natural resources (lots of oil). This South American nation possesses many attractions for the tourist including a tremendous variety of landscapes as well as modern cities and what many believe to be the most primitive group of people existing in the world - the Yanomami.

View from my hotel balcony of the chaotic central bus station, modern high rises, and impoverished barrios creeping up the hillside -
Caracas, Venezuela

View of the murky waters of the Orinoco River and the only bridge across this Amazon-like river. The attentive eye will even catch the
occasional freshwater dolphin surfacing from the murky depths. It is in this type of habitat that one realizes why dolphins have sonar! -
Ciudad Bolivar, Venezuela
In order to enter the Lost World, tourists must fly to this lagoon at Canaima and then climb Hatcha Falls before
venturing upriver by canoe. The most popular destination is the world's tallest waterfall, Angel Falls -
Canaima, Venezuela
One of the many falls that make up the massive cataract of Hatcha Falls. After climbing the falls,
we set off in motorized canoes for the upriver journey toward Angel Falls -
Canaima, Venezuela
Boat travel on the Carrao River is "rapid" amid the landscape of rolling savanna and towering tepuis -
near Canaima, Venezuela
Although our boat could not reach Angel Falls in the dry season,
this lofty waterfall was a nice consolation -
near Angel Falls, Venezuela
Friendly Pemone children greeting the camera at our remote tourist camp. It seems that children are very much the same around the world
and it is only after we have been shaped by our cultures that we become so different - even to the point that we war against each other.
Perhaps one could say that "Culture is innocence lost" -
near Canaima, Venezuela

The Lost World could be a great place to find yourself -
near Angel Falls, Venezuela
The northern end of the Andes Mountains extend into western Venezuela, culminating in the country's highest peak, the 16,342-foot
Pico Bolivar (center of photo). The city of Merida, far down in the valley, is one of the principle cities of the Venezuelan Andes.
Merida sits at over 5,200 feet in elevation at the foot of Pico Bolivar whose slopes have the world's highest cable car
(closed in 2008) to transport passengers from Merida to 15,630 feet above sea level. Can you say altitude sickness? -
near Merida, Venezuela

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All images © Ron Miller
For authorized use of these photos, please contact Ron Miller at TheHappyCannibal@gmail.com