On the next day, we journey to the 'upper land', where the main reason for our visit to Venezuela awaits us – Angel Falls (or Ángel Falls), the highest waterfall in the world. Its waters cascade down a total of 979 metres from the summit of Auyantepui.

The tepuis are among the most impressive natural landmarks in 'Canaima'. They are high plateaus with sheer cliffs. Perhaps the most famous tepui is Mount Roraima, as it is said to have inspired Arthur Conan Doyle's novel 'The Lost World', where daring explorers find themselves among dinosaurs and other long-extinct species.

In fact, the tepuis are older than the dinosaurs – they are believed to be around 350 million years old, making them the oldest rock formations in the world. Interestingly, they were shaped not by uplifting earth's layers but by prolonged erosion.

While Auyantepui may not have dinosaurs or fossils, it boasts unique flora thanks to the isolation of the high plateaus. About 60% of the plants here are endemic, and many are carnivorous. They have developed various ingenious strategies to capture their favourite insects – some ensnare their prey in their tissues, others use natural adhesives, and some have funnels from which flies cannot escape.

We ascend to this strange world, to the top of the highest waterfall in the world, by helicopter. To do this, we obtained prior permission from all the Pemon tribes. For them, however, it is a true event to send people to the 'roof' of Auyantepui, as this happens very rarely.

Statistics show that more people have climbed Everest and K2 than have been to Auyantepui. So far, only 200 people have landed here, and just 70 have descended by rappel, as we will do.

The helicopter lands on one of the few flat areas. The tops of the tepuis may appear flat, but in reality, they are a genuine labyrinth of rock formations. The treacherous nature of this terrain is illustrated by the incident in 1937, when American pilot Jimmy Angel, after whom the waterfall is named, damaged his plane while trying to land on Auyantepui in search of gold. He was forced to descend on foot for 11 days.

Angel may not have found gold, but evidence of the presence of metals in the rocks is the deep red colour of the river that feeds Angel Falls. However, its water is drinkable.

Unlike most rivers known to us, this one has no source. It forms from the evaporation of rainforests, which then fall back to the ground and seep directly into the rocks since the soil layer is extremely thin.

It's around this river that we will spend our first three days at the summit. There we bathe, and there we eat. The menu isn't like that of a gourmet restaurant, but it includes dried fruits, jerky, salami, soups, tortillas, coffee, and tea. We eat three times a day, so we won't go hungry.

Our new home is cosy two-person tents, which will protect us from light storms, rain, and fog.