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The
State of Delta Amacuro is located at northwestern
region of Venezuela, and has some 370 Km of coast
line along the Atlantic Ocean. Yet few visitors have
had contact with its natural beauties and the
indigenous inhabitants of this region. Why? Except
for some 100 Km of routes usable by land vehicles
around the capital of Tucupita, its extensive system
of roadways is fluvial, formed by hundreds of
fingers and arms of the Orinoco River.
The Orinoco is the eighth longer river of the world
and the second largest on the continent, after the
Amazon. With their 2.140 kms long and with outlets
toward the Atlantic, the Orinoco River empty about
18,000 cubic meters of muddy waters per second into
the ocean, adding about 44.5 meters of new land per
year.
Geography has dictated that since the arrival of the
original inhabitants, Waraos Indians, their entire
lifestyle has revolved around the water. Even the
word Warao means "boat people". The Waraos live
along the caños, constructing their palafitos (houses
on stilts) at the edge of the water. They use canoes
like only feasible mode of transportation. The
Waraos are very skilful craftspeople. They have been
renowned as expert builders of curiaras (dug-out
canoes made from a single log), necklaces, animal
figures carved from the white wood of the trees,
baskets and chinchorros (type of hammock) made of
the obtained fibers of the palm of the moriche.
The region's ecosystem, the population of Indian
Waraos and the tropical forest are the most
important for the tourism of the State of Delta
Amacuro. Among the most interesting tourism sites
are the following:
Iglesia de San José de
Tucupita: the Capuchin misión church
built in 1930, is the oldest building in this city.
Catedral de la Divina
Pastora: was completed in 1982 after
nearly three decades of painstaking work.
Los
Castillos de Guayana: they are two
fortresses built to protect from the pirate attacks.
The one known as San Francisco de Asis was built in
the seventeenth century, it has two levels and has a
colonial style architecture. The other fortress, El
Padrastro or San Diego, was built between 1734 and
1735 by Juan Valdez.
Saltos "El Toro" and "Acoima"
(The Toro and Acoima Waterfalls): they
are two fascinating nature places with imposing
splendour and beauty. They are located between Manoa
and Santa Catalina.
Mairusa-Delta Orinoco National Park: this national
park is considered one of the biggest of the world.
This park covers 550.000 hectares near of the Delta
of the Orinoco River. It has mangrove swamps,
forests, savannahs and delta marshes. It is one of
the territories where the Indian Waraos inhabits.
But if you mainly want to know the land of the
Waraos, the most advisable option is to take a
tourist package through one of the camps that there
operate. In many camps, the tourists will be able to
know directly and with the attendance of bilingual
specialized guides, to the Indian Waraos, as well as
an exotic fauna and flora. |