Mount Roraima

Roraima is a tepui - a flat-topped sandstone mesa left standing as the surrounding rock eroded away - and its summit plateau carries the tripoint where Brazil, Venezuela and Guyana meet, marked by a concrete pillar. The rock is Precambrian, roughly two billion years old, and the top is a black lunar surface of eroded pillars, quartz crystal beds, dark pools and a set of carnivorous plants and endemic species isolated up there long enough to have evolved separately, which is why the mountain is repeatedly cited as an inspiration for The Lost World. Almost all trekking approaches use the Venezuelan route from Paraitepui, six days return; the Brazilian flank sits in Ingaricó and Macuxi indigenous land and cannot be walked without community permission.

What you actually see

• A tripoint on the summit - Brazil, Venezuela and Guyana meeting on the plateau.
• A two-billion-year-old surface - eroded black sandstone pillars and crystal beds.
• Isolated endemics - carnivorous plants and species evolved on the tabletop alone.
• Vertical walls - four-hundred-metre cliffs with the single ramp route up.

When to go

December to April, though the top is wet in any season. A week.

Honest expectations

The normal route starts in Venezuela and needs that country's logistics and guides; the Brazilian side requires indigenous community permission. The summit is cold, wet and exposed. Guides are compulsory everywhere.

Nearby

Pacaraima is the border town; Boa Vista is the Roraima state capital.