Description of the excursion

Orinoco Delta
Peninsula de Paria

7 days of adventures,
discoveries and beaches
from Puerto Ordaz to Carupano

This trip is recommended only to the most adventurous traveller. You will share the life conditions of the warao Indians, sleep in hammocks, comfort and hygiene conditions are precarious, and crossing the gulf of Paria can be quite an ordeal if the sea is bad...


First part: Orinoco Delta

Day 1 (L, D – canoe – hammocks)

We will pick you up at your hotel in Puerto Ordaz or at the airport and we will first cross the Orinoco River on a ferry. We will see the difference in color of the waters of the Orinoco and the Caroni rivers as they don’t mix for kilometers.

It is then an hour and a half by road to Boca de Uracoa, a small village on the river Manamo, a large arm of the Orinoco delta. We will board a modern motorized dugout, and the only mean of transportation in the delta. That part of the delta, as shown on the picture, is covered by an aquatic plant which difficults greatly the navigation, the Boro (Eichhornia purpurea). This plant floats up and down river with the tides because of appendages which act as buoys.

We will sail downriver for about 3 hours. That part of the delta is very “colonized”, there are quantity of ranches, animals and crops, but on our way we will probably have the opportunity to see fresh water dolphins, and quantity of aquatic birds.

The Warao Indians who inhabit the delta live on typical houses above the water, with palm-thatched roofs but without walls. We will spend the night in a small such village, Culebritas, and spend the night in hammocks the Indian way. They will teach us the way they live and work, their crops, handicraft, etc. We can try fishing for piranhas. At night we will board small canoe and paddle into small rivers to observe the caimans.


Day 2 (B-L-D-canoe-hammocks)

After breakfast we will again board our boat and sail down river, we will enter deeper into the delta, leaving the Manamo for smaller caños. We will meet less and less people and feel the nature. We will hear howling monkeys, parrots and macaws. We will also have time to entertain ourselves.

We will emerge in a wide river to stop for the night at the community of Jaera Kabanoko. We will see how the little Indians learn how to paddle their little canoes before learning how to walk! At night we again can enter the smallest caños in smaller curiaras to observe the fauna.


Day 3 (B-L-D-boat-lodge)

Today we will say good-by to our delta’s boatsman, and have about 3 hours of sailing to reach the little village of Pedernales, on the North shore of the delta. We are here only half an hour from Trinidad.

Pedernales is a creole village which lives off the oil and gas exploration and production. We will say good-by to our delta’s boatsman, have lunch in the village and then board a bigger boat, a typical peñero, wooden fishing boat, in order to cross the Gulf of Paria. This is a four to five hours sail which can long be if the sea is rough!

We arrive at the scenic village of Macuro, on the Paria Peninsula, where Christopher Columbus set foot for the first time in South America, on August 5, 1498, on his third journey. No road to get here, the only link with the rest of Venezuela is a 2-3 hours ride to Güiria. No restaurant in town, we will have dinner in our lodge.


Second part: Paria Peninsula

Day 4 (B-L-D-hiking-camping)

After breakfast, we load our luggage on the boat which will go and wait for us on the Northen side of the Paria Peninsula and we will hike across the peninsula from Macuro; it is a 4 to 5 hours moderate hike.

We will cross haciendas of tobacco, cacao and then the virgin cloud forest of the Peninsula de Paria National Park. We will have lunch at the maximum height of our hike, about 550m. The descent on the Northern side is steep, muddy and slippery.

We will arrive at a kind of ghost village called Don Pedro, which was abandoned by its inhabitants after a mudslide in 1938. At that time it accounted about 170 people, today about 15 people live there. The boat will be waiting for us. We will have time for a swim in the clear ocean water, board the boat again and sail for a few minutes to a nearby, isolated beach cove to install our campsite.


Day 5 (B-L-D-boat-camping)

After enjoying this extraordinary beach, we board our boat again and sail West. It is a magnificant view of mountain, forest mixing with cliffs and beaches. We can stop at our conveniance to other beaches and set-up campsite for another night.


Day 6 (B-L-boat-inn)

Last day on our boat. We will leasurely sail West to San Juan de las Galdonas, a small fishing village connected to the Venezuelan highway system… comfortable night in a lodge in San Juan.


Day 7 (vehicle)

Breakfast and transfer to the Carupano airport for your flight back to Caracas.


Prices

From Puerto Ordaz to Carupano, minimum 4 persons.

including:

the guide, meals as specified in the program, ground, river and maritime transportation, tents for 2 persons, ground mattresses, hammocks and mosquito nets.

does not include:

insurances (obligatory), tips, airport taxes, souvenirs and objects of a personal nature

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