- Title: VENEZUELA-CATATUMBO The "Catatumbo Lightning": Venezuela's eternal storm
- Date: 7th November 2014
- Summary: LAKE MARACAIBO, VENEZUELA (RECENT) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF LIGHTNING STRIKES GENERAL VIEW OF TOUR GUIDE ALAN HIGHTON (SOUNDBITE) (English) TOUR GUIDE ALAN HIGHTON SAYING: "It's the combination of these mountains, the temperature of the atmosphere of these mountains compared to the temperature of the lake and the sequence of winds that causes these lightning storms." VARIOUS OF LIGHTNING STORM OVER LAKE MARACAIBO (SOUNDBITE) (English) TOUR GUIDE ALAN HIGHTON SAYING: "I first saw the lightning when I was working on a farm between 1981 and 1985. I didn't know it was anything special and I started the tourism and I did a lot of exploring because this kind of ecotourism was new at the time." VARIOUS OF LIGHTNING STORM VARIOUS OF MORNING OVER LAKE MARACAIBO CERTIFICATION FROM THE GUINNESS BOOK OF WORLD RECORDS REGARDING LAKE MARACAIBO CARACAS, VENEZUELA (RECENT) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) ENVIRONMENTALIST ERICK QUIROGA SAYING: "The thing about the lightning is that it isn't based on reason for me but rather a deep love that I have for the region, for Zulia, for that region because it was there, in between Lake Maracaibo, palm trees where I lived out my childhood and it was something very beautiful. For me, it was very special. It penetrated my heart at the age of nine and this is a form of retribution for that very beautiful Catatumbo Lightning that I experienced." LAKE MARACAIBO,VENEZUELA (RECENT) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF GENERAL VIEWS OF THE SMALL TOWN OLOGA, ON THE BANKS OF THE LAKE MARACAIBO VARIOUS OF RESIDENTS VARIOUS OF FISHERMEN VARIOUS OF CHILDREN PLAYING HOME ON THE BANKS OF THE LAKE MORNING SUNRISE CARACAS, VENEZUELA (RECENT) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) ENVIRONMENTALIST ERICK QUIROGA SAYING "The idea (behind the World Record certification) is to bring tourism back to the people of the communities - you all have noted the living conditions in which the people of Congor Mirador and Ologa live. The idea that I also propose with this record is to get the government's attention." LAKE MARACAIBO,VENEZUELA (RECENT) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF LIGHTNING STORM
- Embargoed: 22nd November 2014 12:00
- Keywords:
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVA91NXZXTHKXSSZXJR34ZTO9BCZ
- Story Text: In 1981, then-surfer Alan Highton came to Venezuela from his native Barbados in love with a local girl. Years later he married her, learned Spanish and started to work as a tour guide in the Andean state of Merida, where he lives.
One afternoon, in the distance, he saw the Catatumbo lightning but, as he recalled, "I didn't know it was anything special".
It was not until 1995, when he reached Lake Maracaibo on a visit to see its colourful stilts, when he was captivated by this unique natural phenomenon. Highton bought a stilt house on the lake and started to bring visitors to see the lightning.
"It's the combination of these mountains, the temperature of the atmosphere of these mountains compared to the temperature of the lake and the sequence of winds that causes these lightning storms," Highton, a 51-year-old entomologist, explained.
He made highlighting Venezuela's potential for ecotourism his passion.
"I first saw the lightning when I was working on a farm between 1981 and 1985. I didn't know it was anything special and I started the tourism and I did a lot of exploring because this kind of ecotourism was new at the time," he said.
Despite its incredible natural beauties that inspired films like Avatar and Up, Venezuela received just 1.2 million tourists last year, when neighbouring Colombia welcomed almost 4 million.
When Venezuelan environmentalist Erik Quiroga was five-years-old, his mum showed him a spot on the horizon where magnificent lights appeared from a huge storm most nights about 40 miles from his native Valera town at the foot of the Andes.
Four years later, when he moved with his family to Lake Maracaibo, epicentre of that eternal storm, he met close-up what would become a lifelong passion: the Catatumbo Lightning.
"For me, it was very special. It penetrated my heart at the age of nine," Quiroga said in an interview.
As the years passed, Quiroga became an environmentalist and spent two decades studying the phenomenon.
"The thing about the lightning isn't casuistic for me but rather a deep love that I have for the region, for Zulia, for that region because it was there, in between Lake Maracaibo, palm trees where I lived out my childhood and it was something very beautiful. For me, it was very special," he said.
Thanks to his lobbying, this year it was approved for inclusion in the 2015 Guinness Book of World Records - dethroning the Congolese town of Kifuka - as the place with the most lightning bolts per square kilometre each year: 250.
"The idea (behind the World Record certification) is to bring tourism back to the people of the communities - you all have noted the living conditions in which the people of Congor Mirador and Ologa live. The idea that I also propose with this record is to get the government's attention," Quiroga said.
So what causes such a powerful storm to develop in the same spot, up to 300 nights a year?
Though its exact origins are still fuzzy, scientists think the Catatumbo's, named for a river that runs into the lake, phenomenon is normal lightning that just happens to occur far more frequently than anywhere else, due to local topography and wind patterns.
Lake Maracaibo basin is surrounded by mountains that trap warm trade winds blowing in from the Caribbean Sea.
These warm winds crash into cool air spilling down from the Andes in west Venezuela, forcing them up until they condense into thunderclouds creating an average 28 lightning strikes per minute across a wide area - an energy burst that could power all the lightbulbs in Latin America.
History books show the lightning has played a significant role in Venezuela history, helping thwart at least two nocturnal invasions of the country. The first was in 1595, when it illuminated ships led by Sir Francis Drake of England, revealing his surprise attack to Spanish soldiers in Maracaibo.
The other was during the Venezuelan War of Independence, in 1823, when the lightning betrayed a Spanish fleet trying to sneak ashore.
Quiroga, now 64, said the Catatumbo contributes to regenerate the ozone layer, based on a study led by Harvard University.
Despite its fame, the nearby villages of houses on stilts, Ologa and Congo Mirador, barely receive any tourists.
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