For the Pemón, the tepuis are holy places, sacred guardians of the savanna. Each tepui, every waterfall and river in this country has some connection with Pemón mythology -- as their names attest.

The "Lost World" (El Mundo Perdido) of towering table mountains ("tepuis") stretches across southeastern Venezuela's rolling Gran Sabana (Grand Savanna), 35,000 square miles of grassy plains crisscrossed with rivers and dotted by rainforests and waterfalls.

Some 33 percent of the tepuis' known plants are endemic to the region. Most of the Lost World's wondrous botanical bounty lies on Mount Roraima.

No dinosaurs here, but the towering tabletop mountains of Venezuela's Lost World are no less surreal.

Ancient tepuis of Venezuela: gravity-defying rock formations, thundering falls, and singular flora and fauna.