Venezuela's Tepui
Venezuela is apparently harboring more than just one solitary Avatar-like dreamscape. The film’s floating Pandoran mountains appear to be a dead ringer for this towering, mile-high flat-topped mountain punctuated with hundreds of free-flowing water falls and seemingly symbiotic cotton-candy like clouds. Otherwise known as Mount Roraima, this 9,219 foot structure is ensconced amid emerald green tropical plants and rainbow bromeliads that peek out from behind jutting yet sculpturally aesthetic quartz sandstone.
Those who favor mythical tales involving spiritually enlightened natives living in harmony with magical plants and flying dragons might prefer the alternative name given to this two billion year old geological formation – The Lost World, after Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s 1912 novel. Due to its remote location far from the prying eyes and hands of the developed world, a diverse range of animal and plant species – completely unique to that area – have been able to flourish, including exotic-looking “carrot” formations as well as bell and pitcher-shaped flowers. Clearly, the Na'vi would feel right at home.
It's also worth nothing that the mysterious world of Pixar's "UP" was based on Venezuela's Tepuis.
The Alien Plantscape of the Yemeni Island of Socotra
Much of the visual allure of Avatar can be found deep in the bioluminescent Pandorum jungle where whimsical floating seeds of Eywa share close quarters with the prehistoric yet Dr. Seussian landscaping. A veritable feast for the eyes, this bizarre backdrop -- conjured up by the imaginative mind of director James Cameron -- isn’t as far-fetched as one might imagine.
Far from the heart of civilization as we know it exists an isolated archipelago found in the middle of the Arabian Sea, referred to as “the jewel of biodiversity” due to the fact that 1/3 of its plant species can be found nowhere else on the planet. Socotra (or Soqotra) is notable for its spectacularly unique native flora, reminiscent of the entirely indigenous pockets of life found in the Galapagos – such unusual plants are presumed to exist today largely due to the extreme isolation of the landmass coupled with unique conditions of drought and heat.
Scientists think that the alien landscape, consisting of pink flowered elephant trunk Adenium socotranum trees and Dragon’s Blood Dracaena cinnabari trees (among many others), boasts actual botanicals that existed in ancient times. Once Socotra separated from the super-continent of Gondwana approximately 500+ million years ago, the tectonically isolated region was able to carry with it a diverse array of 825 plants, some of which suspiciously resemble what is depicted in Avatar. Of course, there is no better form of flattery than imitating that which Mother Nature created.
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