The immense tepuyes are the oldest geological formations on the planet.
Shaped, it is believed, by the cooling of the Earth and the relentless pressure of tectonic upheaval, these flat-topped plateaus are estimated to be more than 2.4 billion years old. In other words, they existed long before the dinosaurs ever walked the Earth.
At that time, the Americas and Africa were not separated by an ocean. They were a single landmass: the supercontinent Pangea.
Beyond their age and grandeur, tepuyes carry legends. To those who have lived beside them for centuries, they are the dwelling places of gods.
They are also sanctuaries of biodiversity. Scientists classify them as biological islands — places where human interference is minimal and where plant and animal life have followed their own ancient rhythms, largely undisturbed.
Magical, mysterious, and largely unexplored: these are the tepuyes. What lies hidden above and beneath these ancient rocks?
What Are Tepuyes and Where Are They Found?
According to the Royal Spanish Academy, a tepuy is a “very large and elevated rocky formation, isolated, with vertical slopes and a flat summit, characteristic of the Guiana Highlands.”
In plainer terms, tepuyes are enormous landforms defined by sheer vertical walls that can exceed 6,500 feet in height and by flat, table-like summits. Built from sandstone, quartzite, and granite.
Tepuyes are scattered across the Guiana Shield in South America, spanning Suriname, Guyana, French Guiana, Colombia, Brazil, and — most extensively — Venezuela. They are believed to represent roughly 13% of the region’s total surface area.
Of all these countries, Venezuela holds the greatest concentration of tepuyes. The most famous, and one of the few with established trekking routes, is Roraima tepui, better known as Mount Roraima. Its commanding summit is shared by Venezuela, Guyana, and Brazil, and its cliffs rise to more than 1,300 feet.
The Pemon people know tepuy Roraima as the “Mother of All Waters,” and for good reason: from its heights flow the rivers that drain into the Orinoco, Amazon, and Essequibo basins.
In Brazil, the celebrated Neblinatepui, or Pico da Neblina, rises in the northern state of Amazonas as the highest point in the entire country.
In Colombia, tepuyes are concentrated within Chiribiquete National Park (Serranía de Chiribiquete), a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Auyantepuy, the King of the Tepuyes
The king of the tepuyes, Auyantepuy, is rarely known by its own name.
Its fame rests on what it holds: the world’s tallest waterfall, Salto Angel (Kerepakupai Vená), a free-falling column of water that plunges from a height of 3,212 feet.
Sightings of this extraordinary cascade had been reported before, but it was not until 1935 that its full splendor reached the wider world.
A stroke of misfortune led pilot Jimmy Angel to make an emergency landing on the summit of the tepuy in his small plane. In doing so, he came face to face with the world’s tallest waterfall, measured by sheer vertical drop.
Years later, in 1962, Salto Angel and Auyantepuy were brought within the boundaries of Canaima National Park. In 1991, the site was declared a Natural Monument on account of its tepuy formations. Three years after that, it was inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List.
The dimensions of Auyantepuy are staggering: 8,317 feet in height and 272 square miles in area — roughly the size of Singapore.
Auyantepuy sits in southern Venezuela, near the Colombian border, and is among the most visited of all the tepuyes.
The reason is obvious: Angel Falls. But the waterfall is not its only treasure. The plateau is also pitted with enormous sinkholes reaching depths of more than 1,300 feet, thought to be the collapsed ceilings of ancient caves.
Beneath the surface, an enormous and largely unexplored cave system extends beneath the tepuyes. Much remains to be discovered about the life that exists within that absolute darkness and silence.
A Refuge of Biodiversity
Tepuyes do not form a connected chain the way a mountain range does. They tend to stand apart from one another, isolated.
That isolation is precisely what gave rise to unique environments and drove the evolution of plant and animal species adapted to harsh conditions: intense humidity, relentless solar radiation, and soils stripped of nutrients.
This is also one of the last great pristine tropical wilderness areas on Earth and one of South America’s most critical hydrological networks. Roughly 10 to 15% of the planet’s fresh water flows through this region.
The Guiana Shield ranks among the most biodiverse regions in the world, and the tepuyes are a central reason why. Endemic species found here exist nowhere else on Earth — not even on the nearest neighboring tepuy.
Carnivorous plants, brilliantly colored frogs that walk rather than leap, insects of every conceivable color, shape, and size, reptiles, and amphibians: these are only a fraction of the species that have made this place their home.
Sacred Ground for Indigenous Peoples
For the indigenous peoples of Venezuela’s Gran Sabana, including the Pemon, tepuyes are not simply mountains. They are sacred beings, inhabited by the spirits of both gods and ancestors.
Auyantepuy, for example, is considered the home of Makunaima, a mythological figure of immense power.
These formations are woven into the cosmology and oral traditions of the people who have lived beside them for generations. Their stories carry a clear warning: to disrupt the harmony of a tepuy is to court disaster.
For many, to walk near one of these formations is to enter the heart of an ancient world that is still, somehow, breathing.
The Tepuyes in Fiction
The complexity, beauty, and mysticism of the tepuyes have drawn not only scientists and researchers but also novelists and filmmakers, who have placed their protagonists in this corner of the world.
For readers looking to immerse themselves in a world where tepuyes come alive, Isabel Allende’s “City of the Beasts” is an excellent place to start. Arthur Conan Doyle’s “The Lost World” features them as well.
Viewers of the Disney-Pixar film “Up” will remember the scene of the house drifting over the Amazon, with Angel Falls and the tepuyes rising below.
The blockbuster “Avatar” drew inspiration not only from the rock formations of Zhangjiajie National Forest Park in China but also from Angel Falls and the landscapes of Parque Nacional Canaima.
“Dragonfly” (“The Dragonfly Mystery”), the thriller starring Kevin Costner, is also rooted in the tepuyes — Auyantepuy specifically. Led by signs he believes his late wife is sending him through dragonflies, the protagonist follows a trail that leads him to Auyantepuy, where he finds his young daughter.
The list goes on. Tepuyes do more than shelter the life within them. They inspire. They ignite the imagination. They captivate. They move people.
If you are ever fortunate enough to visit one, remember that you are standing on sacred ground. Treat it accordingly — with the care and reverence owed to one of the most untouched treasures left on this vast planet.
