# @natgeo on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/COiw4BQj-F7
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/11684755-natgeo-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/thumbnails/afc533422a.jpg
- **Posted:** 2021-05-06T19:26:15.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** National Geographic (@NatGeo) — https://gondola.cc/NatGeo

## Caption

Photos by renan_ozturk / I was part of National Geographic's Lost World Expedition, which completed a transect of the Upper Paikwa River Basin, near Guyana’s northwestern border with Brazil and Venezuela, to look for new species of amphibians and reptiles in one of the world’s richest and least explored hotspots of biodiversity. 

Here's a snapshot from writer m_synnott on the journey's end:  We set off around 9 a.m., bushwhacking our way through a Seussian forest of twisted, moss-covered trees and dense thickets of saw grass, reeds, and vines. In some places the vegetation was so thick that the only way forward was to crawl on our hands and knees in tunnels wreathed in spider webs heavy with dew. Through openings in the shrubbery, we caught occasional views across the valley toward Mount Roraima. It had rained overnight, and the tepui was ornamented with a dozen or so massive cascades, including the legendary Diamond Waterfall, which burst from a hole in the side of the cliff.

After half a mile, the ledge turned a corner, and we found ourselves staring in awe across the plateau. Twin towers rose in the distance above a vapor-filled sinkhole that incised the summit like a bottomless abyss. In the span of a few feet, we had stepped from a cloud forest into a bog covered in yucca and bizarre Venus flytrap-like carnivorous plants. It started to rain. Soon we were lost in a lost world, the fog so thick we could barely see each other as we fanned out, desperate for something vaguely resembling a summit. 

Eventually, we met up in an area where car-size rocks balanced atop tiny pedestals. We huddled beneath a mushroom-shaped rock. No one said anything. We just stared into the gloom. But I know we were thinking the same thing: That summits have a funny way of not living up to one’s expectations—and finding new species of frogs on a tepui is not for the faint of heart. #citizenscience #TheLostWorldExpedition

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## Tags

thelostworldexpedition, citizenscience

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