Tabletop Mountains or Tepuis of Venezuela
Tepuis are flat table-top mountains found in the Guayana
Highlands of South America, especially in Venezuela. In the language of
the Pemon people who live in the Gran Sabana, Tepui means ‘House of the
Gods’ due to their height.
Tepuis tend to be found as isolated
entities rather than in connected ranges, which makes them host to
hundreds of endemic plant and animal species, some of which are found
only on one tepui. Towering over the surrounding forest, the tepuis have
almost sheer vertical flanks, and many rise as much as 1,000 meters
above the surrounding jungle. The tallest of them are over 3,000 meters
tall. The nearly vertical escarpments and dense rainforest bed on which
these tepuis or mesa lie make them inaccessible by foot. Only three of
the Gran Sabana's mountains can be reached by foot, among which the
2,180m-high Roraima is the most accessible.
