Asmuss & Beach 2012 (Article) Venezuela

King Leopold’s Silver Treasure

Author(s):—M. Asmuss & E. Beach

Publication:—Journal of the Bromeliad Society 62(3): 100-108. (2012)

Abstract:—King Leopold must have been a real adventurer to march through this endless and unknown territory near 60 years ago. In a moment of lunacy, we decided to visit a mysterious lake deep within the vertical walls of a crumbling tepui and rediscover a silver treasure named for this valiant king of Belgium. To organize this trip seemed almost as difficult as the trip itself. Eloise Beach was the driving force who pushed her Venezuelan friends, Francisco Oliva and Matthias Asmuss, to arrange the expedition to a remote part of their beautiful country. So we were going exploring to find a plant so rare that few people have seen it in the wild. The super-rich hire a helicopter. We hired Indian guides and walked for days!