The Gran Sabana, an area of approximately 3,000,000 hectares (7.4 million acres), is home to indigenous people who are believed to be of Carib descent, the Pemón, who are thought to have migrated to the region possibly six hundred years ago, although archeological sites to the north have unearthed finds dating back almost 9,000 years.

The Pemón are divided into three distinct tribes that have their own dialects – Kamarakotos, Taurepanes and Arekunas. The Taurepanes live in the southern region of the Brazilian territory of Roraima and the Arekuna (northern Pemón) on both sides of the Venezuela-Guyana border.

The majority of the Pemón still practice slash and burn agriculture, a practice that, in the region often burns valuable rainforest is destructive to the local environment. The Pemón continue to hunt in the forests and savannahs and fish the local rivers. Their number has increased steadily since the colonization of the region by Creoles over the last fifty years or so and it is estimated that the total population of Pemón is now in the region of 20,000 with an estimated 4,300 of them living in the Kamarata Valley region.

Although Catholic and Protestant missionaries have converted most Pemón to Christianity, many of their traditional beliefs, particularly surrounding the natural world, are still cherished. The Pemón people possess one of the most impressive oral literatures of any American indigenous people. The work of the Capuchin priest, Fray Cesareo de Armellada during the last century, is testament to this. Their heritage includes magical invocations, chants and rites, as well as didactic, moral and humouristic tales.

The Guayana Region constitutes a true reservoir of natural life and riches. The southeast of the country presents us with its varied relief, which ranges from the ancient elevations of the Guayana Massif to the high plains of Núria and the Gran Sabana and valleys of the Caura and Erebato Rivers.

In this region of great contrasts, the low fertility of the soil is not an obstacle for the exuberance of the vegetation. An efficient strategy of recycling of nutrients explains the marvelous scenic and biology of its forests. But, at the same time, it establishes a delicate equilibrium, where the utilization of the soil in other productive forms is inappropriate.

Its national parks and natural monuments shelter one of the most spectacular natural landscapes of the planet: the tepuis, mesas of sandstone and quartzite that float like islands in a green sea of forests and savannas. Indigenous names such as Auyán, Roraima, Kukenán, and Chimantá identify these masses of rock where the winds dwell and clouds rest as they pass through Guayana.

Canaima National Park
A UNESCO World Heritage Site
Location: Bolívar state
Surface area: 3,000,000 hectares (7.4 million acres)
Declaratory: June 12, 1962 (Decree Nº 770)

Protected ecosystems and important natural attractions: evergreen forests, evergreen thickets, grass-covered savannas with outcroppings of Mauritia palm, complexes of savanna and sub-tepuyan grasslands, savannas with bushes, high-tepuyan vegetation. The Gran Sabana, tepuis, Angel Falls (Salto Angel), patrimony of humanity.

Fauna: Giant armadillo (Priodontes maximus), giant otter (Pteronura brasiliensis), giant anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla), jaguar (Panthera onca), southern two-toed sloth (Choloepus didactylus), mono viuda (Pithecia pithecia), Orinoco capuchin monkey (Chiropotes satanas), rodent endemic to Roraima-tepui (Podoxymys roraimae), marsupial endemic to the tops of tepuis (Marmosa tyleriana), harpy eagle (Harpya harpija), red-shouldered macaw (Ara nobilis), dusky parrot (Pionus fuscus), poison frog (Dendrobates leucomelas).

Flora: More than 300 endemic species are found in the Gran Sabana. Endemic genus: Achnopogon, Chimantaea, Quelchia, Tepuia, Mallophyton, and Adenanthe. Abundant carnivorous species (insectivores) of the genera: Bromelia, Drosera, Heliamphora, and Utricularia. Numerous species of orchids too, many endemic to the region.

Water resources: The entire basin of the right margin of the Caroní River, the two highest cataracts in the world (Angel Falls and Kukenán), and a great number of waterfalls of lesser height.

Indigenous tribe: Pemón (Kamarakoto Tribe)

Settlements in Kamarata Valley:
Kamarata Valley – approx 4,300 Pemón inhabitants