Why visit Venezuela?

Venezuela is a country with superb beaches backed by lovely mountains and forests that hide, among other delights, beautiful wildlife and the world's highest waterfall. From the delta of the river Orinoco in east and Guiana Highlands in southeast, to the Andes Mountains and Lake Maracaibo in northwest, Venezuela has a lot to offer.

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What is the landscape of Venezuela like?

Venezuela is the sixth largest country in South America and is one-third larger than Texas. Most of the population is concentrated in the northern and coastal regions; with much of the remainder living in the north central plains. Very few people live in the southern half of the country. Venezuela can be divided into four natural regions (1) The Coastal Plain, (2) the Northern Highlands, (3) the Llanos, and (4) the Guiana Highlands:

The Coastal Plain

In Western Venezuela the mountains branch into two main arms, enclosing between them extensive plains bordering Lake Maracaibo—an arm of the Caribbean. The eastern chain, the lofty Sierra de Merida, turns eastward and runs close to the coast, so that the coastal plain is very narrow indeed. The temperature in these lowlands is uniformly high, but the rainfall is by no means heavy, except on the higher slopes behind.

The Northern Highlands

The coastal plains give way abruptly to mountains that are an extension of the great Andes system. These mountains, known in the south as the Cordillera de Merida, turn eastward along the Caribbean coast and continue as the Coastal Range. These mountain chains and elevated basins of the northern and northwestern section of the country make up the region known as the Northern Highlands.

The Llanos

South of the highlands is the most extensive plains district of Venezuela, the Llanos. This huge grassland region occupies a vast territory between the Northern Highlands and the Guiana Highlands, and extend from the Colombian border eastward to the delta of the Orinoco River.

Guiana Highland

The fourth major region of Venezuela is occupied by the rugged and isolated Guiana Highland. Well worn by erosion and age, the Guiana Highlands are not so high as the Andes. These older mountains present a sharp face to the Amazon basin to the south but drop away in a series of broad, step-like plateaus to the Guiana Coastal Lowlands in the north. These isolated highlands have been the setting of many adventure stories, including the famous novel The Lost World by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle—a fantastic and imaginative tale about explorers finding live dinosaurs in this plateau country of trees and grasslands. The Guiana Highlands also feature Angel Falls, the world's highest waterfall.

What is the nature of Venezuela like?

In a general way the environment may be said to resemble that of Brazil, with a wide variety on account of the lofty mountains. Extensive forests of full tropical luxuriance, overgrown with air plants and lianas, and harboring many beautiful plants are found on the slopes of the northern mountains and in the south and southwest near the Brazilian and Colombian borders. Above 900 meters (3,000 feet) begins the plant life of the temperate zones.

The llanos are generally covered with long grass, interspersed near the marshy regions with clumps of trees; but in the dry districts cactus, agave, and hardy shrubs are found. Mangrove swamps are common at the mouth of the Orinoco. The animals include the various tropical species of South America—howling and other monkeys, jaguar, puma (cougar), sloth, anteater, armadillo, tapir, and a vast variety of birds with beautiful plumage.

What is the climate of Venezuela like?

See our main article: The Climate of Venezuela

Like that of its sister republic Colombia, the climate of Venezuela is affected less by its latitude than by its altitude. Three distinct temperature zones are marked by the altitudes of 700 and 2,000 meters (2,300 and 6,500 feet). Below the first come the 'warm lands' of the coast and llanos, with a mean temperature varying from 26°C to 32°C (78°F to 90°F), but with the trade winds tempering the heat of the coastal regions. On the Llanos the rainy season lasts from April to October. The temperate zone, beginning from about 700 meters (2,300 feet), has a delightful climate. The rainy and dry seasons divide the year here as in the lower zone, but with much less definiteness. The mean temperature ranges from 10°C to 25°C (50°F to 77°F). Above an altitude of 2,000 meters (6,500 feet) come the 'cold lands.' The line of perpetual snow begins at about 4,250 meters (14,000 feet).

Climate data for Caracas (1970–1998)
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Average high °C (°F)	23.3 (73.9)	23.6 (74.5)	24.3 (75.7)	25.0 (77.0)	25.8 (78.4)	26.0 (78.8)	25.5 (77.9)	25.8 (78.4)	25.5 (77.9)	25.2 (77.4)	24.6 (76.3)	23.8 (74.8)	24.9 (76.8)
Daily mean °C (°F)	19.6 (67.3)	19.7 (67.5)	20.2 (68.4)	21.2 (70.2)	22.0 (71.6)	22.0 (71.6)	21.7 (71.1)	21.9 (71.4)	21.9 (71.4)	21.8 (71.2)	21.3 (70.3)	20.2 (68.4)	21.1 (70.0)
Average low °C (°F)	15.9 (60.6)	15.8 (60.4)	16.0 (60.8)	17.5 (63.5)	18.2 (64.8)	18.1 (64.6)	17.9 (64.2)	18.1 (64.6)	18.3 (64.9)	18.4 (65.1)	18.0 (64.4)	16.5 (61.7)	17.4 (63.3)
Average rainfall mm (inches)	15.3 (0.60)	13.2 (0.52)	11.4 (0.45)	59.2 (2.33)	81.7 (3.22)	134.1 (5.28)	118.4 (4.66)	123.8 (4.87)	115.4 (4.54)	126.3 (4.97)	72.6 (2.86)	41.4 (1.63)	912.8 (35.94)
Source: Instituto Nacional de Meteorología e Hidrología