Facing away from the awesome Kukenan an Roraima tepuis, the morning light is no less soft and warm, but the landscape is dramatically different and what dominates the plateau – grass and bush. Hardly any trees – the few that exist grow around rivers and streams. This is due to natural fires caused by lightning, but sadly in large part due to humans – the native indians. They are called Pemon, but after discussing with many representatives of different ages, I think Pemon actually means Pyro!
They just love fire, and whenever there is an insect problem – fire! Snake problem – fire! Scorpions – fire! Hunting – fire! None of the Pemon I talked to could answer why they do it, except it’s tradition. This is like fishing with dynamite!
The sad thing is that nothing is gained by any part, as the fires indiscriminately turn forest and grass to cinder, and there is nothing grown on the partched soil left behind. The Pyros are unable to properly isolate the fires to just grassland, and thus the savanna expands continously. I saw huge forests burned down, and all primary forest lost! The hills on the photo leading to Kukenan were all forest, filled with endemic flora and fauna. Now just silence and no shade from the sun.
If nature was the only firestarter, the problem would not have been so great and nature would have been better able to restore itself after natural fires. Now, there are only a few pockets of forest left, and they contain so much more life than that of the savanna – so why burn them down?
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Last updated on 7 December 2010
