Top 5: Venezuela Nature
1. It’s heaven for wildlife - and home to the world’s largest rodent
According to Conservation International, just 17 countries are considered "megadiverse". Each possesses a vast number of different species – many found nowhere else. And Venezuela is one.
Some 23 per cent of reptilian and 50 per cent of amphibian species that inhabit the country are endemic to Venezuela, and few regions are better for a wildlife holiday than Los Llanos.
2. Conservation is pretty important
Venezuela leads the way when it comes to conservation, having designated 53.9 per cent of its territory as protected – more than any other nation.
3. There’s an everlasting lightning storm
Formed over the mouth of the Catatumbo river, when cold mountain air collides with the heat of Lake Maracaibo, the ‘Catatumbo lightning’ entered the Guinness Book of World Records in 2015 as the most likely place on the planet to see lightning. Sometimes there are more than 100,000 lightning strikes a night.
4. It has an inspirational mountain
Mount Roraima, in the Canaima National Park, inspired Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World, and while there are no Jurassic inhabitants, visitors can expect to see endemic birds, frogs, dragonflies and tarantulas.
5. The world’s highest waterfall
Another highlight of the Canaima National Park is Angel Falls, which is reached by small plane and motorised canoe. The water there plunges 807 metres to the ground, and it has a total height of 979 metres.
* I enjoyed my virtual visit to the beautiful nature that Venezuela has. Maybe one day I can really go there.
Bron foto: pixabay
