Pakaraima Mountains

The Pakaraimas run across western Guyana into Venezuela and Brazil, a highland of sandstone tepuis, open savannah and forested valleys between about a thousand and two thousand metres, and they hold the country's biggest waterfalls including Kaieteur. Patamona and Macushi villages are scattered through the range, most of them reached by air or on foot. A long-distance trekking route links several of them, taking about a week, and it is the main way visitors see the interior of the range.

What you actually see

• The tepuis - flat-topped sandstone massifs rising above the highland.
• The Amerindian villages - Patamona and Macushi settlements through the range.
• The trekking route - a multi-day walk linking villages across the highland.
• The waterfalls - the range's rivers dropping off the escarpment edges.

When to go

September to April is drier and better for trekking. The wet season from May to August makes the trails heavy and the rivers high. Nights in the highland are cool.

Honest expectations

Access is by charter flight or a very rough overland route, and both are expensive and weather-dependent. Village permissions must be arranged in advance and cannot be assumed. There is no infrastructure beyond what the villages provide.

Nearby

Kaieteur Falls is on the range's eastern edge, and Orinduik is west.