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Santa Elena de Uairén & La Gran Sabana.JPG)
_small.jpg) The
small town of Santa Elena de Uairén is the headquarters of the
Aldeas de Paz in Venezuela and the heart of La Gran Sabana National Park.
The town has about 25.000 inhabitants and is at an altitude of 900m - 1000m (3000f - 3250f)
with a nearly perfect climate (16°C / 45°F - 28°C / 79°F all year
round). The town was founded
in 1922 as a Capuchin mission, and grew in the 1930s with the
establishment of gold and diamond mines in the region.
Santa Elena Photo
Galery
Santa Elena
is surrounded by breathtaking scenery, and a wealth of nature. The region is one of the
oldest geological sites on the planet where
prehistoric flat topped mountains are
like ecological islands with endemic species such as carnivorous
plants and lots of other natural treasures.
The Guayana shield,
located in La Gran Sabana, is the earth's oldest surface.
It is estimated to be
2 billion years old, and was formed when South
America and Africa were still part of the super continent
Gondwana.
_small.JPG) Travel
Information
You will find good
shopping opportunities, restaurants, internet cafes, postal and telephone services,
clubs, pool halls and nightlife opportunities, as well as a wide
variety of tourist travel destinations. Santa
Elena is also a good place to arrange
adventure tours into
La Gran Sabana and
Mount Roraima in
particular.
The area known as La Gran Sabana, "the Great Savannah" is located
in the south-eastern corner of Venezuela, at the border with
Brazil
and Guyana. It is a high plateau, a land of wide
open spaces (75,000 square kilometers),
tropical forest, spectacular
tepuys (flat-topped mountains),
rivers and gorgeous waterfalls. It is also home to the Pemón
aboriginals.
It is unknown when La Gran Sabana was first
occupied, but there are artifacts that demonstrate that indigenous
peoples were occupying the Orinoco Delta at least 2 to 3 thousand years ago.
At the time of the arrival of the first Europeans, La
Gran Sabana was inhabited primarily by
_small.JPG) Pemón aboriginals.
Gran Sabana Photo
Galery
Besides
flat plains, La Gran Sabana also features tropical regions, jungle and cloud forests, rich in
palm trees, fern trees, orchids, bromelias . . . also
animals including tapirs, jaguars, pumas, deer, anteaters,
snakes, are all native to the different ecosystems of La
Gran Sabana.
Chirikayen -
Pemon indigenous community |
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