Travellers' Reports for Venezuela

Trekking in the Andes

Roraima Trek

Llanos

Widerness Experience & Caura River

Canaima

Gran Sabana

Self Drive

Mochima

Los Roques

Pascale from France- Trekking Roraima, Canaima , Adventures in Los Llanos and Los Roques 11/2003
D'une manière générale nous avons passé un très bon séjour au vénézuela mais j'ai quelques remarques à faire pour les prochains voyageurs :
- Trek du Roraima : pour nous notre meilleur souvenir. Par contre il faut préciser qu'il y énormément de "pourris-pourris" et qu'on peut en faire des allergies ( très fréquent chez les européens) ce qui a été mon cas d'ou grosse démangeaison fièvre et gonflement, j'ai du rester coucher 2 jours à canaima et donc je n'ai pas fait les chutes Angels. Donc préciser aux gens qui partent qu'il faut prendre avec soi des anti-allergiques car ça peut gâcher une partie des vacances. Préciser aussi de ne prendre vraiment que le strict minimum, pas de savon, shampooing,pas besoin d'un petit sac pendant ce trekking et ne prendre que 2 ou 3 rechanges pas plus. Notre guide Mireille était géniale, et le trek fabuleux, on a rien à dire sur la nourriture, les camps ou l'organisation.
- Canaima, à cause des piqures je n'ai pas tout fait mais précisez qu'il faut absolument des sandales car on est trempé de la tête aux pieds. L'électricité ne fonctionne pas toujours aussi, ce n'est pas dérangeant....
- Les Andes franchement par rapport à tout ce que vous nous avez proprosé c'était le plus nul. Le guides était gentil mais les activités pas intéressantes du tout, il nous tardait de terminer ces 2 jours.
-Los Llanos TOP, le guide, le camp et les gens qui y habitaient géniaux, on avait l'impression de tous faire partie de la famille.
- Los Roques, rien à dire sur la posada [posada Cacao] mais c'est vrai qu'au bout de 2 jours il n'y a pas grand chose àa faire. En tout cas les plages sont superbes.
Que ce soit l'organisation, l'accueil dans chaque agence, il n'y a rien à redire. Nous n'avons rencontré aucun problème dans les transferts ou autres . Merci pour ce voyage, on s'est vraiment régalé.

Neena, UK - Trekking Roraima and Canaima , 05/05/2002
Hello Gilles,
The Roraima trek was absolutely great. Thank you for organising it. It was the highlight of the holiday. Terrific scenery and relative solitude. A very memorable adventure. Kendal the guide was terrific - his English was superb. Chao the cook was excellent too, he went to a lot of effort making vegetarian meals for me. They both really looked after us...especially me. I had an ear infection when I arrived, then dodgy knees (probably due to old age!) meant I was not in top condition.
Claude in the office was also extremely helpful, patient and very organised. His wife was lovely too. Not forgetting Mario the driver who was very cheerful. Everybody at New Frontiers were great. It's a real team effort and I will definitely recommend the trip to my friends.
Thank you also for organising our stay in the Pelican (can't remember the name in Spanish, sorry!) - the eco tourist hotel in Santa Elena. The town itself is not very pretty, but The Kuboo or whatever it was called was an absolute delight. Alexis has stayed in many expensive hotels all over the world - he says it's one of the best places he's ever stayed at. The food, the owners and the atmosphere were all superb. This hotel gets top marks from both Alexis and myself...we have already recommended it to many others.
The excursion Angel Falls was a bit of a let down. The accommodation was extremely basic and the organisation was very poor. The guide was no way near as good as Kendal. His English was virtually non-existent and his manner left a lot to be desired. The scenery was amazing - but I would not recommend it to my friends. The Kusari guesthouse you booked for us was not good enough. It was basic and too far to walk with luggage. Alexis and I think you should not recommend it to future travellers. [It is sold as a budget adventure package, the cheapest option available in Canaima. Comfortable lodges are available. See the webpage]
Thank you once again for organising our holiday to Venezuela. The Roraima trek and the Kuboo in Santa Elena were special places, with special people.
Take care. All the best, Neena

Alan, Switerland - Trekking in the Andes, Roraima , los Llanos and Choroni 03/11/2001
the holiday went well and we both enjoyed ourselves immensely. Concerning the weight of our backpacks I think there must have been a misunderstanding on my part as I was unaware that it was required that we carry our own food and tent and actually I wasn't so worried about the extra weight it was more where to put the extra things as my pack was full with nothing to spare. Anyhow the situation was sorted to everyone's satisfaction. I do have one or twr of La Casona de Margot, was absolutely amazing. My son was very unwell when we returned from Llanos and Antonio immediately offered to help. [personal comments cut]
- Jose Louise was friendly and helpful and (apart from one minor problem when he forget to pick us up from the airport when we finally did leave, something he put right by sending a taxi) coped really well with all the changes of plan caused by the sickness of my son and myself. He arranged a number of things for us and then cancelled them as our plans changed without any protest. He was also the only reliable place that I found where I could change travellers cheques in Merida after the change office at the airport refused twice. He also put himself out to run errands like finding stamps for postcards and getting (without being asked) some local medicine to try to help my son when we first arrived in Merida.
-The Llanos guideo little things to say though about the arrangements but nothing serious and nothing that spoiled the holiday itself. Lastly please convey my gratitude to all tour groups as our trip to Venezuela was one of the best trips we have ever had, all objectives were achieved and we returned home feeling relaxed and fulfilled, also many thanks to you for arranging such a full and exciting holiday for us. Again many thanks and best regards

Olivier et Pascale, California, USA - Canaima, Los Roques and los Llanos 28/12/2001
Cher Gilles, Un grand merci pour votre aide qui nous a permis d'effectuer un voyage exceptionnel et sans aucun problemes !
Waku Camp is TOP ! Do not hesitate to recommend it, it's the best of Canaima and people are fantastic. [Others comments available on Canama below]
Posada Caracol [in Los Roques] is very nice.
And the Llanos was a beautiful experience.
We will recommend your services for anyone going to Venezuela and Latin America.
Joyeuse annee 2002
Olivier et Pascale

Christelle from France - Diving in Los Roques 12/2004
Très belles plongées et équipe du centre très sympa, aucun problême. la posada [ posada cacao] était également agréable et Vicky très compétente mais disons que le service chute quand elle s'absente ... (rien de dramatique mais une nette différence de prestation).
Les hôtels très bien autant avila que best western à catia la mar. reste toujours mes embrouilles de vol puisque, cerise sur le gâteau, nos bagages (avec le matériel de plongée !) sont restés bloqués à saint domingue et sont censés arriver aujourd'hui (le délai entre les 2 vols était trop court pour faire le transfert de bagages vu que nous avions déjà 1 heure de retard par aeropostal ... et que le vol air caraïbes était avançé d'une demie-heure ?!)
Donc finalement que des ennuis aériens mais nous sommes très satisfaits de notre séjour et surtout du club de plongée. Merci

Miguel and Maria, USA - Los Roques 12/2003
Hola Gilles:
Sorry I did not answer sooner, my husband's been all the time on the computer since we arrived playing with the wonderful pictures we took in Los Roques. What to say of our trip, I guess the best way to put it is by saying that it was "CHEVERISIMO!!!" Everybody in Caracol [the hotel] and in Sesto Continente [the diving club] went out of their way to make our trip memorable.
I should however tell you about an anecdote that I found rather comic. I got a call from Roberta about two days before our departure to Los Roques asking us if we did not mind changing airline because we will get a better service with Sol de America rather than with Transaven. I was reluctant because it was just only two days before departure and for a 30 minute flight I did not feel that service was going to be a major issue (how many coca-colas and peanuts bags can you eat in half an hour). However, I asked about this improved service, to my surprise Roberta replied that the new company took better care of their planes and so they crashed less frequently!!! ..... Of course we changed carrier.
Anyways, thank you so very much for your time and patience helping us getting this tremendous vacation package right to paradise.

Cristina & Alex, UK - Canaima, Caura Lodge and los Nevados 10/2003
We had an excellent time on the trip and have nothing but glowing reports to give on all people involved.
The Caura Lodge trip was very professionally organised and the guides, Oliver and Silfredo, were very approachable and attentive and seemed to really enjoy their job.
The Canaima trip was excellent too - the guide, Carlos, worked extremely hard during the whole trip and again was extremely helpful.
The Los Nevados trip was also good but very hard work!
Everything ran smoothly and there were no glitches at all. Every posada was nice and the food was surprisingly good even in the middle of nowhere.
Thanks for all your help Gilles - we know how difficult it must have been to organise this all at the last minute. We will make sure we recommend Condor to our friends.
Christina and Alex

Jonathan, UK - Adventures in Los Llanos, Choroni and Merida 26/12/2001

On services, I am pleased to report that almost everyone that we met was helpful and friendly. Of particular note :-
- Antonio Pastera, the owne, Harry Monsalve, deserves plenty of praise. Not only did he clearly know and love his work, and as a result made every day an interesting one, but he also coped magnificently with the fact that my son was really quite unwell the whole time, the need to make unplanned pharmacy and other stops, that fact that when we left Llanos I realised (after nearly 3 hours of travelling) that I had left behind almost all our money in the camp and so on. Despite all this he managed to keep us entertained, always smiling, always with something interesting to say or to point out, never hurried or panicked. The perfect guide throughout, excellent company and excellent value.
- Lastly, Alexandra and Alfredo at Pasada Semeruco (and Cataquero) in Choroni were warm, friendly and hospitable and made us feel very much at home.
The things that we didn't like or got wrong or misunderstood :-
1. I did not understand from what you sent me quite how much time was taken up in travelling in the Llanos. Although it is a '4 day adventure' the reality is that it is a 2-day visit with 2 days of travelling [One day is crossing the Andes in private transport with lots of visits]. If it had been clear that there was 10 or so hours of driving in each direction, I would have chosen something else. While we were in the second camp we met a family [Olivier and Pascale, see above ] who flew out of Barinos rather than Merida. This would, I believe, have been a much better arrangement, allowing us to spend more time at the second Llanos camp where things were most interesting rather than at the first camp which was, frankly, both poor from the 'adventure' side (there was not much to see) and also very dirty, very neglected and run down. A very poor and primitive choice of camp for this adventure, I think. Also please note that the itinerary that you sent me for this trip was rather misleading as it was impossible to complete fully given the amount of driving involved.
2. I did not understand from your explanation just how crowded and filthy the beaches in Choroni would be at that time of year [I warned that beaches in Venezuela at Xmas are crowded and dirty as all venezuelan head to the beach; they are alone and clean the rest of the year]. I know that you said something about this but I really think that it needs to be emphasised to make sure that people get the point. I certainly didn't. We found that Playa Grande was absolutely disgustingly filthy - littered with bottles and other rubbish and so crowded that it was impossible on the two occassions that we tried to walk along it on the sand. The only sensible alternative was to take one of the boats to the other beaches, a pretty expensive option to repeat every day unless you can find other people to go with you.
3. Although Choroni is busy and full of young people as you said, it is in no sense 'international' in that virtually everyone there is local. Again I think that this needs to be stressed as, had I known just how few foreigners there would be I would have opted for a much more international resort where my son would have other people of around his age with whom he could communicate easily, either in English or French, both of which he speaks fluently.
4. Although I opted for 'standard' or 'basic' rather than luxury, I did so in ignorance. Had I understood from your literature how basic 'standard' was and, for instance, how few facilities a posada has, I would have booked a higher grade holiday without question. However, again I feel that there was insufficient information to make the choice clear.
5. Lastly, I think that it worth warning people about the difficulty of changing money, particularly the impossibility of changing dollars or dollar travellers cheques through banks. Despite the best efforts of Hugo, our guide from Caracas to Choroni, we could find nowhere to change travellers cheques. Fortunately, I had brought about a third of our money in cash and had changed some cash at the airport when we arrived. ItalCambio in the airport had refused to change the dollar travellers cheques that I was carrying on the grounds that they were not issued by American Express. I was finally able to find a cafe owner who changed some more cash at a reasonable rate and Alfredo in the Semeruco changed a bit more which kept us going. It was not until we met Jose Louise in Merida (the ItalCambio in the airport at Merida also refused the first two times that I asked although on the third attempt they changed with no problems) that I found someone who would change travellers cheques at a sensible rate, by which time I was rapidly running out of cash.

Ailsa, UK - Wilderness Experience and Canaima 04/11/2001
The trip in Venezuela was wonderful. Oriniquia Lodge ws a fantastic location although the insects enjoyed biting us! Unfortunately the guide did not speak English there so we missed out on detailed explanations. Caura River was my favorite experience, the guide was brilliant, full of knowledge, fun and helpful. The Angel Falls operator was not so good, not XXXXXXXX but Thomas Bernal Tours. Communication was not good between the 2 companies as our flight back to Caracas left earlier than we were meant to be back from the falls. This meant the rest of the tour group were annoyed that we had to leave early and miss the opportunity to see the falls again in the morning. Jeffersen was a lovely host, making his best effort to ensure we had a good time, the food at his lodge was okay but evrywhere else it was delicious. All in all I would definitely recommend this trip to others and your company to them. I was impressed with XXXXXXX a very personal service.

Marc, Switerland - Wilderness Experience and Self drive Discovery Journey 04/11/2001

Dear Gilles, Of course I can give you some feedback about the trip (I usually do that anyway):
- flights: ********** I know that I booked them myself, but just as a hint for other passengers: I used LUFTHANSA to fly from Zürich via Frankfurt to Caracas and on both flights my luggage got lost. The time between the flights was just to short to transfer the luggage. So advice your customers not to use LUFTHANSA or to pay attention that there is enough time between the flights.

- transfers: ************ All the transfers worked very well and the guys showed up on time and took me to the right places (that is really something one can not expect in Venezuela)

- self driving trip ******************* The trip itself is great and it's a good opportunity to explore the country. But I have to say that it is definitively not suited for non-Spanish speakers. You have at least to know the basics to get through (to ask for the way or to deal with the police). I would also ask the travel agency to provide the drivers with GPS receivers (not to find the exact route but to find the hotels). The provided descriptions were very poor (e.g. Hotel Bellensate in Merida: "Just pass the airport and go a little further" --> I was searching for almost 2 hours)
Drivers need an international drivers licence!

- the wilderness experience tour ********************************* The first part of the tour is definitively not worth it. Staying four days in Puerto Ayacucho is a waste of time. There is not much to see and there are only very few animals. The lodge is beautiful but I guess most tourists do come to Venezuela for that? The Rio Caura expedition on the other hand is really excellent. There you can see lots of animals. I think that it is worth staying longer out there (e.g. going up high Caura).
The transfer from Puerto Ayacucho to Maripa in Bus is also something which is only suited for experienced travellers (if you do not speak Spanish, then how should you know where to get out? The bus stops all 5 minutes....). It's an awful transfer
Does that help you? Regards Marc

Henri et Marie-Christine from Paris, France - 4wd tour in Canaima & Gran Sabana & Mochima. 05/08/2000 Commentaires avec retard.....
Le séjour s'est bien déroulé à chacune des étapes. La (les) panne(s) de voiture font partie du possible dans ce genre de voyage.Nous avons apprécié la réaction vraiment trés correcte et directe (sans discussion)de Claude Saint Pierre. Kendall est vraiment un super guide:sympa et compétent.La halte à Moshima était trés agréable. Elie et Miguel ont tout fait pour nous aider. Ceci étant, le prix de Moshima nous a semblé trés élevé par rapport à ce que l'on a pu trouvé ensuite à Margarita et aux activités proposées.
Bonne réception,

Valerie from Caracas, Venezuela - Mochima National Park 01/05/2001 Bonjour Gilles,
J'ai passé à Mochima quatre jours de rêve où j'ai vu des plages magnifiques, des paysages enchanteurs et un soleil levant et couchant admirables. A la Mochima Lodge, nous avions une chambre magnifique et confortable comme il en existe peu au Venezuela. Claire, ensoleillée, vue panoramique sur la mer et ses îles, elle était extrêmement agréable à vivre.
Si on se penchait au balcon pour regarder en bas, ou dans les arbres, des iguanes par dizaines à observer.
Une attention irréprochable de la part du maître de maison qui cuisine à merveille, poisson midi et soir y compris dans les copieux plateaux repas qu'on nous a servis sur la plage. Petit déjeuner à la carte, paix et musique new age pour démarrer la journée, un vrai bonheur. Le repos le plus absolu, tel que je ne me l'imaginais plus possible. Gardez bien cette adresse au chaud et conseillez-la vivement.