Peace Villages Foundation 


Santa Elena de Uairén & La Gran Sabana



The town of Santa Elena de Uairén is the headquarters of the Peace Villages Foundation in Venezuela and the heart of La Gran Sabana National Park. The town has about 20.000 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. Sta. Santa Elena Photos

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. Gran Sabana Photos

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 Pemón aboriginals.

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.

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.

Santa Elena Photos     Gran Sabana Photos

 

Fundación Aldeas de Paz
Lomas de Piedra Canaima via Sampai, Santa Elena de Uairén,
La Gran Sabana, Estado Bolívar, Venezuela
Phone: 0058 - 289 - 4160820  Email: mail@peacevillages.org
We are a registered charity: RIF J-30872287-1 (Vz) 
   

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Peace Villages Foundation
 
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