In 1986, during an expedition to the top of mount Auyantepuy I had the opportunity to meet a hermit, Latvian born, named Aleksandrs Laime , who lived on the Orquidea Island in the Carrao river. Mr Laime was well known because he made several ascents to the top of the mountain trough a route, not yet found, in the northern part of the mountain, and also for being an excellent diamond and gold prospector. Among the stories he told me there was the one related to some strange animals he saw sunbathing at the shore of a lake on top of the mountain. Mr. Laime had the idea that this animals could fly because they had fins. When he showed me the drawing he made I got really impress, because the strange animals looked like a small dinosaurs (plesiosaurus?).

After my meeting with Mr. Laime, in the next years, I made 7 expeditions to the top of the mountain, to explore the most unknown areas to the north part of this huge 700 square kilometre tepuy, the same unexplored areas where Mr. Laime saw the reptiles. In my last expedition in October 2006 finally found the lakes where he told me he saw the strange animals. I placed the base camp on a top of a small rim, some 150 meters away from the lakes, and stayed quietly there for nine days to see if I was able to see the same strange animals he told me about. Very early, on the 7 day I could notice some strong wave movement over one of the lakes, I took my binoculars and immediately saw what looked like a long neck sailing across the shore of the lake, moving slowly, immediately grabbed my camera and took as many pictures as I could, with the hope that the camera resolution could help me to see much better that strange neck. After the expedition, when I got back home I checked over the pictures, and in one of them I could see to my good luck the long neck again, looking towards the shore, like hunting for fishes, that also I saw in the shores of the lakes and which have not been reported yet.

After this expedition I made a research on what I possibly saw, and to my surprise I discovered that some years ago Mr. Ricardo Trevisi, one of the best helicopter pilots in our country and Dr. Armando Michelangelli, a famous and well known biologist from Venezuela, also saw, both at the same time, an animal swimming on a lake, exactly like the one described by Mr. Laime, but in a different part of the plateau, I also new that they arrange a huge expedition after to capture the creature, but with no success.

Thanks to the tales of Mr. Laime and this recent expeditions there is a possibility now that some creatures dinosaur like could still alive in this isolated environment, specially because this areas have not change in several million years. In the near future we are planning to arrange a new expedition, with better and most sophisticated technology, in order not to disturb this creatures and to collect enough data to prove the hypothesis of their existence. For the moment I want to dedicate this post to Mr.Alexander Laime, which is placed on the Orquidea Island where he lived over 40 years , and who was considered a crazy man in his time, and died here in 1993, in his humble house, in the hearth of the Lost World.

Recently in 1994 a new genus of an small Plesiosaurus was discovered confirming that this small size reptiles also existed, the similitude�s with the drawing of Mr. Laime are just astounding . See this specimen here: http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/1142141/an/0/page/0#1142141
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En el a�o de 1986, durante una expedicion a la cumbre del Auyantepuy tuve la oportunidad de conocer a un personaje que habitaba una caba�a sobre la isla Orquidea en el r�o Carrao, se trataba del ermita�o de origen Let�n el Sr. Alexander Laime El Sr. Laime era conocido por todos en la zona por ser un extraordinario explorador de oro y diamantes, pero ademas por haber hecho varios ascensos a la cara norte del Auyantepuy, por donde todav�a nadie ha sido capaz de encontrar una ruta de ascenso. Entre las historias que me relat� el Sr. Laime sobre el Auyantepuy me cont� acerca de unos animalitos que pudo ver asoleandose cerca de un lago en la cumbre de la meseta. El pensaba que estos animalitos pod�an volar, ya que no ten�an patas sino aletas. Cuando me mostr� un dibujo que hizo de los mismos quede muy asombrado, ya que se trataba de reptiles de casi un metro de largo parecidos a un Plesiosauro!!

Luego de este encuentro, en los a�os siguientes, realic� 7 expediciones a la cumbre de la meseta, a la zona norte, la cual es la menos explorada de esta meseta de 700 kil�metros cuadrados de superficie, y donde yo sab�a que el Sr. Laime hab�a avistado los reptiles. En la ultima expedici�n, en Octubre de 2006 finalmente encontr� los lagos donde me coment� que hab�a visto los animalitos. All� monte un campamento sobre una saliente durante 9 d�as para ver si pod�a yo tambi�n ser capaz de verlos. En el d�a 7 bien temprano en la ma�ana pude ver ondulaciones muy pronunciadas sobre uno de los lagos, tome mis binoculares y pude apreciar lo que parec�a un cuello largo saliendo del agua y moviendose lentamente a las orillas del lago, inmediatamente comenc� a tomar fotos, con la esperanza de que la resoluci�n de la camara pudiese mostrarme un poco mas de lo yo era capaz de ver en ese momento. Sorpresivamente al revisar las fotos pude apreciar un largo cuello que miraba hacia la orilla de la laguna, tal vez en b�squeda de peque�os peces que tambien pude avistar en estos lagos y que hasta donde tengo conocimiento a�n no han sido reportados.

Tiempo despues, al regresar de esta expedici�n comenc� a investigar un poco mas del asunto y me enter� que uno de los mejores pilotos de Helic�ptero del pa�s, el capitan Ricardo Trevisi, en compa��a del conocido bilogo venezolano, el Dr. Armando Michelangelli tambien avistaron el mismo reptil que el Sr. Laime y yo pudimos ver sobre la monta�a, pero en otro lugar diferente. Posteriormente me enter� de que el Dr. Michelangelli organiz� una expedici�n para atraparlo pero no tuvo exito.

Gracias a los relatos del Sr. Alexander Laime, as� como a las recientes expediciones en b�squeda de estos f�siles vivientes ahora existe la posibilidad de que efectivamente pudiesen existir criaturas de este tipo en estos ambientes aislados, los cuales han permanecido sin cambios a lo largo de muchos millones de a�os. En el futuro cercano estaremos preparando una nueva expedici�n con mucha y mejor tecnolog�a, de manera de no perturbar a estas criaturas en su ambiente natural y poder colectar la mayor cantidad de informaci�n que permita demostrar la hipotesis acerca su existencia. Por lo pronto quiero dedicar este post al Sr. Alexander Laime , que se ubica sobre la isla en la que vivio durante 40 a�os, quien ademas fuera considerado como loco en su tiempo y quien muriera en su humilde caba�a en 1993, justo en este lugar y en pleno coraz�n del Mundo Perdido.

Recientemente se descubr�o un especimen muy peque�o de plesiosauro de cerca de 2,6 mts., confirmando el hecho de que estos reptiles tuvieron distintos tama�os. Es interesante destacar las similitudes de este ejemplar descubierto con los dibujos de Mr. Laime. Ver el ejemplar en este post: http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/1142141/an/0/page/0#1142141

Jose -

This is an astounding post!!! Of course, I want to know all the details after you finish your expedition! But my favorite part of this post is your poetic and touching dedication to Mr. Laime. He obviously affected your life.

Diane

Dear friend Diane,

Thanks for your comments. Definitely Mr. Laime sooner or later will be remembered as one of the most romantic explorers of the Lost World. He is now death, but his spirit will live forever not only in his beloved Lost World, but in the hearts of all that new him and the ones that will know him �for sure� in the near future. He was as humble as his house and his hearth was as big as the mountain, always giving more than what he had. Now is time for me to tribute him, specially after seeing the same creatures he saw, and to share this experience with people like you.

This is a great post! Thank you!

And welcome to the Google Earth Community!

Dear friend Heamit,

Thanks for your comments and for the welcome to the GE community. I myself have enjoyed many of your post in the past, which are excellent too. GE has become a very powerful tool for the type of work I develop; exploring remote and unknown areas of the Guiana High lands. Thanks again to you and to GE.

Outstanding Jose,

I started to read this post thinking that it was posted by some crackpot who had been in the jungle too long, but your post is obviously sincere. Please post more pictures, and good luck with your search.

Alexander Laime is my mother's stepfather and my uncle Alex Laime's father... I was wondering if you had any more photos of him! I was in Venezuela in 1991 when I was 14 and supposed to meet him, however I had to return to the U.S. because of an illness... Please help!!! My grandmother, Vilma Laime was just admitted to Abington Hospital, Montgomery County, Pennyslvania on 2/22/2008 so I want to show her some of these photos!!!!

Seems like loch ness!

Dear El Cangri,

Thanks for replying to my post.

I just got back from my last expedition to the Lost World and got very impress to see some more replies to this one. Very soon, maybe by the end of May I will go back with some more sophisticated technology, resources and help to see If this time I get lucky and will be able to get a better picture than the one listed above. Also I am planning to go down and explore the valley and also swim into the lakes where I saw the creature. I am expecting to see if I can get some excrement an other clues that could get close to this mystery. Mr. Laime told me that this animals take sun bath, so I have a pretty well idea where to look for clues. I for sure will keep you inform as well as all the GE friends that are interest and following this story. Thanks again for your interest..

Dear Bob,

Thanks very much for writing.

It is my honour to know from you as a relative of Mr. Laime. I am afraid there is not more pictures in my possession that I can send to You related to him , but I am looking now for a book that a Latvian friend, I just met few weeks ago, Mr. Alejandro O. Sadde K. a distinguish member of the Latvian community in Venezuela, who told me about the existence of this book, which is written in Latvian and refers directly to Mr. Laime. If I get lucky with the book I will scan some pictures and send it to you, of course with the permission of the right owners.

My next expedition to �capture� more data from the mysterious animal is on a count down now , It may take place by the end of May where I am expecting to go into the Dinosaurs valley that no one but Mr. Laime explored and called it �The enchanted valley�.

For sure I will keep you inform through this post about the new discoveries, where I am also planning to see if there is the possibility to collect some excrement and other clues that will take us, as well as the GE community to solve the mystery of this living fossils.

Thanks again and please say hello and all my respects to your grandmother Mrs.Vilma Laime.