Category: Venezuela - tropicalbats.com

Carnivorous pitcher plant in flower

8/16/2013

On the tepuis of Venezuela, there are a lot of interesting plants. That is, if you are a plant person. But even if you are not a plant person, the carnivorous pitcher plants are about as cool as plants get. Here is a photo of a pitcher plant flowering.

A flowering pitcher plant on Chimanta Tepui

These plants eat insects, which makes them interesting, but they also host an endemic frog.

The frog Tepuihyla edelcae down in the plant Brocchinia reducta.

There is evidence that the frog's poop is part of the food stream for the plants on the tepuis. And how cool is that!

Helicopter travel in Venezuela

8/16/2013

We used helicopters to get to the caves. This can be pretty iffy travel, as the weather is variable and can change quickly.

Helicopter taking off for the tepuis. Note that is is cloudy.

We made the trip to the top of our tepui with two helicopters and several trips by each. This was great, as we could have been weather-bound and not got up there for days.

Piles of gear being offloaded.

While we got everything right, and went about our caving exploits...

This happened.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/19/venezuela-helicopter-crash_n_1217327.html

The people who died in that helicopter crash were friends of our VZ hosts, and there was much sadness on the tepui. But we finished our work, and truly understood why the helicopters couldn't fly and pick us up on-schedule due to clouds and rain. We got off the tepui only a day late, as there was a break in the weather.

Venezuelan tepuis from the air

8/14/2013

The tepuis (table mountains) of Venezuela are pretty remote. But you can drive to the area and see them and be suitably stunned. They are truly amazing, and worth the trip (an hour-long plane ride from Caracas and then a nine-hour drive got me there, so we are not talking an easy bit).

But we went further, helicoptering 50km from where we could drive, and got to see them from the air.

This pic is Chimantá Tepui in the foreground, looking at a couple tepuis in the background that I don't know the names of. Doesn't do justice to what is was actually like being in the helicopter seeing this stuff, but maybe you get the idea of how grand this landscape is. And of note, there is a 1,000-foot cliff at the edge of the foreground, as that is not the top of a typical hill.

View from Chimantá tepui in a helicopter

Venezuelan Rainbow

8/14/2013

While traveling back from caving in the Tepuis of Venezuela, we drove through a number of towns. And at one point, a rainbow appeared. So I took a photo, which is a pretty darn good photo, but don't remember the name of the town!

So here is a great shot that I don't have a location on right now.

VZ town with rainbow

Stream after big rain on VZ tepui

8/6/2013

This little stream moved a lot of water after a big rain

Spider in Cueva Charles Brewer, VZ

3/12/2013

Not the greatest spider shot ever. But Notice the fluorescent colors, which are so interesting in this little critter.

A butterfly emerges

2/24/2013

This photo was taken in Venezuela, far east of Caracas, along a road where our truck blew a fan belt. It took maybe an hour to get that fixed, and while stuck I managed to get a few pictures.

A butterfly emerging from its chrysalis

More slime from Venezuela

2/5/2013

A precariously dangling bit of slime

Root slime

2/4/2013

A plant root, on Chimanta Tepui, Venezuela.

This plant root was growing downward in open space from a rock overhang on Chimanta Tepui in Venezuela. It had a slime ball at the end, which was dripping water.

Gran Sabana at sunset

2/3/2013

The Gran Sabana (great plains) of Venezuela at sunset with a most awesome tepui in the distance