King Leopold must have been a real adventurer to march through this endless and unknown territory near 60 years ago. In a moment of lunacy, we decided to visit a mysterious lake deep within the vertical walls of a crumbling tepui and rediscover a silver treasure named for this valiant king of Belgium. To organize this trip seemed almost as difficult as the trip itself. Eloise Beach was the driving force who pushed her Venezuelan friends, Francisco Oliva and Matthias Asmuss, to arrange the expedition to a remote part of their beautiful country. So we were going exploring to find a plant so rare that few people have seen it in the wild. The super-rich hire a helicopter. We hired Indian guides and walked for days!
Matthias insisted we go in March because one of Francisco Oliva's books noted that the blooming Pepinia leopoldii* was photographed and collected that month in the year 2000. On March 15, 2010 with overstuffed backpacks in tow, Eloise**, John Irvine, Bob Wright, Francisco, and Matthias took a flight from Caracas south to Puerto Ayacucho, capital of Amazonas state and starting point for many journeys to The Lost World.
Our first night was spent at the Orinoquia Lodge beside the Orinoco, only a stone's throw away from the Colombian border. An impressive clump of Aechmea bauxilumii, blooming in a tree, caught our attention right away. Plenty of Pepinia armata and Pepinia pruinosa flourished in harsh conditions on granite monoliths near the lodge. We were the only guests at that rustic inn with thatch-roofed bungalows but were treated to a wonderful fresh-cooked dinner in an open-air pavilion.
The next morning our travel permits had to be stamped in Puerto Samariapo but due to low water levels, we had to switch ports and board a small boat out of Puerto Venado. Only minutes after shoving off, the boat refused to cooperate, so our trusty captain Elvis, a Baniwa Indian, headed back to shore. Then more bad news: our newly installed outboard motor was mounted too high on the transom! After an hour alternating between working and drinking, six men with beer bottles in hand managed to lower the motor by notching out the transom with a machete and hammer. Delays are to be expected in this part of the world. We passed the time in the burning sun drinking a fermented beverage the locals call chicha and ate yummy banana cake hawked by a smiling guy pushing a beat up and not too sanitary cart with all sorts of questionable food items. Luckily Montezuma was asleep that day and didn't seek any revenge from us later.
'All aboard!" And we climbed back into the boat and headed down the Rio Orinoco, then turned into the Rio Sipapo, where we noticed different water colors as the two rivers flowed together. More guides, Miguel, a Jivi Indian, and Carlos, a Piaroa Indian, waited for us in a larger boat called a bongo, which is better suited for navigating lower...