Sarah's parents and brother had arrived at 3am the day after us, they had had a gruelling 9 hour wait at the domestic terminal in Caracas, so clearly the delays were not just reserved for buses!! After no days relaxation - the next day was spent organizing, buying food and packing for the trek to Salto Angel, and before no time at all we were on our way to Kavak in tiny six seater plane. Kavak is a small village at the bottom of Ayantepui (the tepui, giant rock formation, Angel Falls drops off). We had been lead to believe by Sarah's dad that we would be walking six hours a day and a lot of our time would be taken up by swimming in waterfalls, relaxing and exploring caves. Although Sarah believed it Robbie had an inkling feeling the itinerary for each day would be slightly different!!

Day 1

Off we started with one guide and two porters little did we know what lay ahead of us. After day one Philippe's timid description of what had lay ahead of us was shown to be slightly off beam. Day one entailed 9 hours of walking through baking hot savannah, crossing rivers and a steep uphill of about three hours, with some mild bouldering thrown in to reach the first layer off the Tepui. And then an hour and half walk in the dark across rocky terrain to reach the first camp under a palopa. We set up our tents and went for a wash in the river. It's was a surreal moment when Robbie found himself washing naked next to Sarah's dad!! Luckily Philippe had brought some military rations with him - so this was a quick and easy dinner (chicken curry!).

Day 2

If day one had felt like a challenge day two proved to be something else. We were all up and out of camp by 8:30am and had a breakfast of golden syrup porridge. The terrain included boggy savannah and a very steep, very long almost vertical in places, jungle section to reach the second layer of the Tepui. And this was just the morning. The afternoon entailed again some mild bouldering and steep rocky paths to make it to camp. About 9 - 10 hours walking total. That night we camped under a giant rock.

Day 3

This was to be the bouldering day. There was 5 to 6 hours of bouldering in the morning and some ropes to go up vertical boulders. (Luckily it had not been raining so the rocks were dry.) One of which Robbie was really scared of and cannot even deny it if he would like to as there is video evidence shot by Philippe. We reached the highest point of the Tepui by 2pm on day 3. The afternoon consisted of rocky terrain and some more ropes. One which Philippe nearly ended the expedition on, not realising the rope had a lot of stretch in, in an uncontrolled hurtle across the 10 metre rock face he bumped and swung finally reaching the other side. He was "completely out of control" in Antoine's description. Philippe claimed otherwise. We reached camp just before dark with another 9 hour day behind us.

Day 4

Prior to day four Sarah and Annette thought we might just go to the top of the Tepui and back as it was a very tough trek so far. However there was no doubt in Philippe's, Antoine's and my mind that we were going all the way. This day proved a slightly easier day but was not without its challenges. Only 6 hours walking which allowed us the time to make some rum cocktails in camp that evening.

Day 5

Consisted of bouldering in the early morning to reach another level of the Tepui. Then came a nightmare 3 hour traipse through a bog that could have swallowed us whole at any moment. Every step sucked energy out of you. After 3 hours of hell lunch finally came. The afternoon was a completely different environment entirely up and down a number of jungle covered hills to reach camp.

Day 6

Yet again another day, another challenge (this was probably the worst/hardest day of the whole trek). About 10 jungle covered hills (which seemed like mountains!) up and down, up and down it seemed never ending. There were roots to clamber over and under all the way, not your average stroll in the park. This was made worse by heavy rain in the afternoon, making the way even more treacherous than it already was. Again the day was about 9 to 10 hours. But this time we reached camp Salto Angel. The camp was pretty uncomfortable as we were just sleeping on bare rock and open to all the elements.

Day 7

This was a more leisurely day. We had expected just to take a 5 minute stroll to Angel Falls. If we had learnt anything so far it would be to 'expect the unexpected'. It was about 45 minutes of bog and some bouldering until we finally set eyes on what we had come to see.

Angel Falls itself was a sight to behold, and luckily it had rained almost every night so the falls were gushing with water! The view also was spectacular. I would say there was felt by everyone a great sense of achievement and privilege to be standing where we were standing. You could see the lodge's people stay in up river - having flown into Cainama and taken a bout to the bottom and we well….we had walked to the top. You could safely say we were the only people in the world standing at the top of Angel Falls. That really gives you a sense of achievement and pride.

We spent most of the day relaxing at the falls, no point in spending a few minutes there if you have walked 6 days to get there!! We also realised that Antoine's foot was massive, along with his leg, really swollen coupled with 3rd degree sunburns he picked up whilst admiring the falls. This was along with Philippe starting to develop some sort of fungus on the bottom of his feet which made it difficult to walk.

Day 8

We began our long trek back, our aim was to make it back in just 5 days rather than the 6 it took to come up. Navigated over and through the jungle laden with roots. The river we had crossed on day 6 was very high and we had to use a rope to cross it. It was chest deep in places. Once this obstacle was overcome it was the other obstacle of 10 hills jungle covered hills, steep up and steep down, steep up and steep down. Until after another 9 hour day we reached camp.

Day 9

We knew it would come around again but we were all dreading it. The bog day! The bog was navigated slightly quicker this time. Somehow it helped knowing what was ahead of of us, rather than blindly trudging through it not knowing when it would seize. This was not without incident however as in the space of 10 minutes Philippe had fallen into some bushes and then waist deep into the bog!

Everyone was relived to be out of the bog. The afternoon included some bouldering, now we were really descending.

Day 10

Entailed clambering through more jungle, climbing over rocks and trudging through some more mild bog. Philippe was really finding it more difficult to walk with the fungus and blisters that had developed on his feet but pressed on.

We camped at the highest point on the Tepui, 2500m, again it was pretty uncomfortable as it was pure rock.

Day 11

Comprised of a lot of different environments in one day. The highest point on the Tepui which is very barren and rocky, some bouldering and cloud forest, jungle then savannah to end the day! Antoine and Robbie, as they were far in front, left some head torches hanging on a branch in the middle of the path for Annette and Philippe to pick up as they would be walking some way in the dark to, make it to camp. However Sarah thinking they had dropped them (don't know where this thought came from?) scooped them up. However she rectified this by going back to take some torches to them through the jungle alone in the dark.

And now we were back at the camp we stayed at on the first night of the trek.

Day 12

We thought this would be a relatively smooth day without incident and that we would be back to Kavak in the early afternoon to relax. Once again our aspirations for the day proved wide of the mark.

We walked through savannah and bouldered down to the bottom of the Tepui. Our plan was to pick up some transport at lunch because Philippe's feet were in a terrible state. About 5 minutes before we reached the destination where we had believed we would pick up transport our guide informed us there may be no petrol! This revelation proved accurate and we walked some more until by a stroke of luck we picked up some transport by means of a beaten up old pick-up truck. Laden with 12 people and about 200kgs of yucan bread we all squashed in.

The ride was somewhat bumpy. And our first river crossing was made went without incident. On approach to the second crossing we asked if there was any need for us to get out - as anyone thinking logically would try to reduce the weight pickup before crossing 20-30m wide, waist deep stretch of river. Venezuelans don't think logically. Half way across we stopped dead and our transport started filling with water and the engine was flooded.

Never in our lives and never again I can imagine will there be a moment where 10 men are pushing a car along a river - it was a crazy and surreal moment. As much as we tried there was no pushing the pickup up the steep track on the other side of the river so we were back to walking. We walked the last 45 minutes to Kavak. Despite 3rd degree burns, fungus, swollen legs, Tarzan stunts, blisters, bruises, suspected broken fingers and about million sand fly bites we had made it, we were back to civilization (sort of). Everyone was happy for their first shower and bed in 12 days.

Our journey back to Ciudad Bolivar was not quite yet over. Next day we made it to the village of Kamarata - being told it would be easier to pick up a plane from there, also being told there would be restaurants and bars. None of this was the case and we did not manage to pick up a plane until the next morning. Even waiting at the "airport", just a dirt runway, we were not sure if a plane would turn up!

Back to Ciudad Bolivar and onto Merida

In Ciudad Bolivar Annette and Sarah announced they were sick of the Gran Savannah so we decided to hit Merida, a university town located in the foothills of the Andes in western Venezuela. Getting to Merida was not as easy as hopping on a bus. As numerous buses were just not running. It involved a number changes, a 12 hour bus to Valencia, then a 6 hour bus to Barinas, then finally a 5 hour bus to Merida. Nothing is straightforward in Venezuela! During our time in Venezuela we learnt there are a few philosophies to live by: go with the flow and expect the unexpected.

In Merida we did a number of activities. Philippe, Antoine and Robbie went mountain biking one day, climbed Pan De Azucar (4650m) for the next two days, then joined Sarah and Annette for rafting for the following two! All in all it had been an action packed month in Venezuela. We said goodbye to Sarah's family and headed for our next stop …. Colombia.