Venezuela
Our tour continues on today with an extended trip through another one of the world's most beautiful countries - Venezuela. According to legend, the first European explorers here in the 1400's named the region Veneziola or "Little Venice" because the stilt houses and marshy lands around Lake Maracaibo reminded them of Venice - and over the years this former colony of Spain has grown dramatically. From sprawling modern cities, vast untouched farmlands, quaint beach towns, natural wonders, and magical landscapes - Venezuela is truly a land of great contrasts.
We'll begin the trip in Caracas - the country's capital and home to some 3 million people in it's metropolitan area. Since it's founding in 1567 as Santiago de León de Caracas, it continued to grow slowly over the centuries until the mid 1900s when it experienced a period of rapid population growth and quickly became one of the continent's most important cities. Today, Caracas is country's commercial and cultural center.
Caracas is home to some of the region's most unique modern architecture. Here we see the shining glass facade of the Parque Cristal, which has become one of the city's most famous landmarks since opening in 1977.
The Avenida Libertador is one of Caracas' most important arteries of traffic and cuts through the middle of the city. Here we see a typical scene from central Caracas in the El Bosque district.
Caracas' signature landmarks however are the twin towers of Parque Central - the tallest skyscrapers in Venezuela. These highrises have become an architectural icon across Latin America since their construction in the late 1970s during the country's oil boom.
After our stay in Caracas, we head north to get our first sight of the country's beautiful Caribbean coastline. Charming little villages like Puerto Colombia are filled with brightly colored riverboats - readily available to visit other beautiful towns, beaches, and national parks in the area.
Another view of Puerto Colombia through the years.
Much of Venezuela's economy depends on important natural resources such as oil reserves. Lake Maracaibo can be found in northwestern Venezuela - since oil was first discovered here in 1914, it's turned into one of the world's most largest oil regions. However, it's just as noted for it's incredible natural phenomenons - and this region has become famous for the Catatumbo lightning that roars over the area for up to half the year. It's widely believed to be the world's largest ongoing thunderstorm - and at times it seems like it truly never stops.
Large areas of the land surrounding Lake Maracaibo are surrounded by vast fields of oil pumpjacks.
Southwest of Lake Maracaibo is one of Venezuela's most famous natural landcapes - the Llanos. This tropical grassland plain is home to massive swamps and vast cattle ranches - and over the years, due to it's abundance of wildlife and natural beauty, it's become an ever increasing ecotourism destination as well.
For the next leg of our journey, we'll be traveling deep into the rain forest to visit a few of the country's most stunning natural landscapes. Although these rugged lands have been largely untouched by human activity, members of the Yanomami society have successfully adapted to these landscapes for over 2,000 years - and are now one of the world's only uncontacted tribes remaining. Here we see one of their traditional communal dwellings - the Shabono.
Although much of these lands are flat, forested jungle - you'll see the occasional, flat topped mountain rising dramatically above the forest floor. These tepuis are all that's left of a once massive sandstone plateau that once dominated the area - with wind and rain erosion over the millenia eroding them to almost nothing. The impressive Autana Tepui, located near the western border with Colombia, is one of the country's best examples of this natural phenomenon.
In contrast to the imposing tepuis that tower over the landscape are the enormous sinkholes that can be found deep in the rain forest. The massive Sima Humboldt can be found near the country's southern border with Brazil and plummets over 1,000 feet - so if you're traveling through these lands on foot, you might want to watch your step.
Our last destination will be the impressive Auyán-tepui and the many waterfalls that plunge off of its cliffs, which can be found in the southeastern part of the country. Salto Dragon and Salto Cortina are two of the country's most stunning waterfalls, and are a popular spot to fly over - and it's not hard to see why.
Venezuela's most iconic natural wonder however is none other than the legendary Angel Falls, which was discovered by accident in 1937 by American aviator Jimmie Angel. Plunging over 3,200 feet, it's the world's tallest waterfall - and it's so high up that the water dropping over the edge never actually reaches the forest floor below, and instead turns into fog.
Our tour concludes with a final view over the impressive Auyán-tepui - one of the continent's most remarkable sights.
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-korver
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Previous Update: "Bolivia"
Thanks to @CorinaMarie, @art128, @Angry Mozart, @bladeberkman, @Odainsaker, @EvansRE4, @bobolee, @Krasner, @Dead_End, @jakis, @Goldman Sachs, @PaPa-J, @Scaley McSlither, @Androgeos, @raynev1, @Bastet69008, @RobertLM78, @mrsmartman, @Simmer2, @Dom Pedro, @cydonianmystery, @Toby Ferrian, @Kitkat5533, @mattb325, @matias93, @The British Sausage, @Manuel-ito, @Lucario Boricua, & @Tyberius06 for all the likes and comments!
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