Destinations What are Tepuis and where to find them 18th December, 2024

A tepui, often spelt tepuy, tepuys or tepuyes, is a unique kind of tabletop mountain found only in South America. The name tepui means ‘house of the Gods’ in Pemon language as the indigenous people of this region believe gods reside within them, which is a similar belief to Buddhists and Hindus in Bhutan. These incredible stone islands rise from the rainforest below to form flat-topped plateaus, some of which look like pinnacles, others look more like block-shaped mountains that have had their summits lopped off.  Sometimes shrouded in cloud and frequently boasting cascading waterfalls down their sides, tepuis are a natural wonder that most people will never get to see.

Tepuis are home to unique and endemic plant and animal life as the isolation of these microclimates separates them from the surrounding landscapes, making them home to a huge array of species, some of which are still undiscovered. Accessing these fascinating ‘islands of the sky’ is challenging as they are often surrounded by sheer cliffs, sinkholes and inaccessible rainforest.

The noticeable features of tepuis include sheer sides made of rock, dappled with greenery that creeps up from the forest floor. The cliffs are covered in crevasses, ledges, nooks and crannies, as well as vast tepui caves forged by watercourses travelling through the rock foundations. Their tops can be lush and green with low-lying foliage or else craggy and barren, depending on how high they rise. Often the climate at the top of the tepui will be different to that at the bottom resulting in a variance of habitat that segregates both flora and fauna species.

The tabletop mountains of the tepuis are some of the oldest geological structures in South America. It is believed that the sandstone tepui were originally part of a sandstone plateau around 1.7bn years ago which was broken apart by tectonic movement below as continental plates shifted. Over millions of years, erosion by wind and water has formed these unique structures that form the tepuis we know today. The way in which these tabletop mountain shapes have been formed has led to tepuis hosting populations of animal and plant life that may yet to be discovered. Biological study of the tepuis has been thwarted not only by their remote location but also their unforgiving sheer faces, littered with loose rocks, mosses and vegetation.

Tepui are unique to South America and are most commonly found towering above the Guiana Shield, a swath of dense tropical rainforest that covers Guyana, southern Venezuela, Suriname and parts of northern Brazil and Columbia. The highest concentration of tepuis is found in Canaima National Park in Venezuela, where there are 115 separate tepuis including Auyán-tepui, which is home to Angel Falls, the tallest waterfall in the world.

Auyán-tepui is in Canaima National Park in the Guiana Highlands of southeast Venezuela and is notably the tepui from which Angel Falls cascades. Auyán-tepui is 2,450m high with a 667km2 plateau surface area, making it one of the largest tepui in the world. It is also one of the most popular tepui to visit.

Located at the junction between Guyana, Venezuela and Brazil, Mount Roraima is the highest peak in Guyana at 2,772m high and at the western point is 2,810m high in Venezuela. Roraima is the highest tepui mountain in South America and is famous for its rich biodiversity, being home to plants and animals that exist nowhere else in the world. You can climb Roraima although you’ll have to enlist a local guide or join a group trip. It is a challenging trek with steep sections and sheer drops, but you’ll be rewarded by incredible views across the clouds, rainbows and waterfalls of the neighbouring tepui mountains and the rainforest far beneath.

Also known as Matawi or Cuquenán, Kukenán-tepui is also in Canaima National Park in Venezuela and is a tabletop mountain next to the more famous Roraime tepui. It is more technical to climb, so see less visitors than its fellow tepui mountain, and is known by the Pemon people of the Amazon as ‘the place of the dead’ as they believe spirits reside inside. Kukenán-tepui is also the source of the Kukenán River.

Made famous by the 2014 film Godzilla, Sarisariñama is a large tepui known for its incredible sink holes. The largest tepui sinkhole, Sima Humboldt, is almost perfectly circular and is around 350m wide. There are believed to be four sinkholes on Sarisariñama, the most commonly known being Sima Humboldt and Sima Martel, which not only are characterised by their widths but have isolated, unexplored forest ecosystems within the caverns.

The Last Tepui is a National Geographic Explorer documentary, broadcast by Disney+, following biologist and environmentalist Bruce Means on his final expedition into the rainforest to catalogue unique and endemic species with a view to aiding conservation across Guyana and the wider Amazon Rainforest in South America. Across 33 previous expeditions he’s found 14 new species and identified numerous families and subfamilies, 5 species of which were discovered on this trip to Guyana alone.

For Bruce the last remaining frontier of the Guiana Highlands are the cliff walls and the tops of the tepuis. For this mission, they enlisted the help of Alex Honnold who is known for being the best free solo climber in the world. The plan was for Alex, alongside Federico Pisani a Venezuelan biologist and climber and Mark Synnott, author, professional climber and expedition leader, to ascend the tepui wall and hang a rope to winch Bruce up, enabling him to explore both the cliff wall and the plateau above as he goes. However, as their 14 day journey progresses it becomes obvious that the terrain is too dangerous for 80 year old Bruce and the climbing team forge on ahead with a crew of porters, guides and climbing equipment.

Alex Honnold is described as a ‘can do kinda guy’ by expedition leader Mark Synnott, famous for his free solo climb of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park in the US. These three climbers, identify and scale a sheer face of Wei-Assipu-tepui, known as Little Roraima or Roiramita, documenting what they see as they climb. On reaching an ascending ridge they battle through vegetation, insects and cloud to the summit plateau above, bringing back vital finds for Bruce, waiting in the forest below.

This dramatic documentary offers insight into the rainforest, its inhabitants, the locals and of course, the tepuis which is truly fascinating and clearly demonstrates why we need to conserve the rainforest from mining and logging.

This summary of all we know about tepuis comes with a recommendation to watch The Last Tepui for a unique portrayal of the rainforest in Guyana as well as an offer to experience this beautifully remote country. Kandoo Adventures offer a range of trips to Guyana, where you can foray into the jungle, explore the waterways and glimpse these stunning tepui for yourselves. Check out our Ultimate Guide to Guyana blog and find your next adventure below.