Kukenán, also known as Matawi or Cuquenán, is a tepui in Bolívar State, Guayana Region, Venezuela. It has an estimated surface area of 2185 hectares (equivalent to 21.85 square kilometres). It is high and about 3 km (1.9 mi) long. Kukenan Falls, which is high, is located at the south end of the tepui.Kukenaam, Salto . World Waterfall Database.

Kukenán was climbed in 1972 by Stephen Platt, Hans Schwarzer and Ramon Blanco, with Ambrosio Perez, A Pemon Indian guide. The first ascent may have been in 1963 by a party from Bangor University. Kukenán was closed to climbers in 1997 on safety and environmental grounds.

Kukenán is located in Canaima National Park. Next to Kukenán, to the southeast, is Mount Roraima, a better known tepui. Kukenán is more difficult to climb, so it is ascended much less frequently than Mount Roraima.Kukenan Tepui. SummitPost. 24 July 2007.

Canaima National Park is also home to the highest waterfall in the world, which is located in Auyán Tepui.

In the 1840s, the Bekeranta community committed mass murder-suicide at the base of the mountain.

Scenery on top of Kukenán provided inspiration for the 2009 film Up.

See also Gran Sabana

References

Further reading

Kok, P.J.R., R.D. MacCulloch, D.B. Means, K. Roelants, I. Van Bocxlaer & F. Bossuyt (7 August 2012). Current Biology 22(15): R589–R590. []