Images of Guyana

by Kirk Smock

Framed by Venezuela, Brazil, Suriname and the Atlantic Ocean, Guyana is that South American country you likely know little about. In a continent of tourism heavyweights - not to mention the nearby Caribbean Islands - Guyana has long been overshadowed as a tourism destination. But the tides are slowly shifting, and nature enthusiasts, avid birdwatchers, wildlife lovers, and those looking to get off the beaten track are starting to whisper about South America's quiet paradise.

Besides the lure of millions of acres of pristine rainforest that carpet 80 percent of the country, South America's only English-speaking country offers a rich biodiversity, welcoming Amerindian communities, lofty mountain ranges, sprawling savannahs and unassuming eco-lodges. For adventurous couples, visiting Guyana provides an opportunity to lose the crowds and view remarkable wildlife in one of the world's most unspoiled natural wilderness areas.

With a population of only 750,000 people, Guyana is sparsely populated with a rich mixture of ethnicities, with citizens of East Indian and African descent making up the majority of the population. The other ethnic groups are Amerindians, Chinese, Europeans (mostly Portuguese) and, most recently, Brazilian. Guyana's culture is also unique in that it isn't typically South American. With no Latin heritage, the culture closely resembles other English-speaking Caribbean nations to the north.

This article provides an overview of some of Guyana's popular destinations, but by no means touches on them all. For more information on planning a trip to Guyana, including several itineraries and contact information for local tour operators, visit www.guyanabirding.com and www.guyana-tourism.com, or purchase the Guyana guidebook published by Bradt Travel Guides.

GEORGETOWN

Georgetown is Guyana's capital city of roughly 250,000 people. Georgetown isn't the draw to visit Guyana - that lies in the interior - but with the International Airport 25 miles south of town and Ogle, the domestic airport, nearly in town, most visitors stay for at least a night, and there is plenty to occupy your time.

Georgetown has some beautiful old colonial buildings of Dutch and British heritage, lively locals, thriving markets, a few decent museums, some good restaurants, and a Botanical Gardens with more than 200 species of birds.

The best way to see the city is on a City Tour offered by local tour operators. The tours feature the highlights: St. George's Cathedral, which at 143-feet is one of the world's tallest free-standing wooden buildings; Stabroek Market, the bustling shopping center where you can buy most anything; Botanical Gardens and Zoological Park; and many of the city's more beautiful colonial buildings. Also include tours of Demerara rum distillery, where some of the world's finest rums are produced, and the Roy Geddes Steel Pan Museum, run by one of steel pan's pioneers.

For lodging, Cara Lodge offers comfortable rooms in a beautiful old colonial building; El Dorado Inn has clean, stylish rooms; and while the rooms at the Pegasus can show their age, this is the place for people who enjoy a hotel with everything: restaurant, bar, pool, gift shops, beauty salon and tennis courts.

Baganara Island Resort

The lower reaches of the Essequibo River - Guyana's largest - is easily accessible from Georgetown, and there are a handful of good lodges, resorts and private home rentals on its banks. One of these is Baganara Island Resort, a 187-acre island resort.

The island's beautiful centerpiece is the colonial-style wooden Baganara House, that sits on the long, beautiful white sand beach. The main house has an open dining room is where the hearty meals of are served, as well as a well-stocked bar and open lounge with hammocks, tables and chairs, elevated sofas, and great views of the river.

On Baganara Island, there are some 120 species of birds and nature trails that wind through the rainforests. Kayaks can be paddled around the island or up a small creek located on the mainland. Swimming, pedal boating, water skiing, wake boarding and banana boats, as well as volleyball, table tennis, karaoke and a pool table, are also options. Be sure to also take a boat trip to Marshall Falls; to Parrot Island at sunset to watch droves of parrots return to roost; or to the nearby village of Bartica for a tour of the town.

Baganara offers day trips from Georgetown or in combination with a flight to Kaieteur Falls. These trips usually involve flying to Kaieteur Falls in the morning and making a stop at Baganara on the return for lunch and swimming.

RAINFORESTS

Guyana has pristine rainforests blanketing nearly 80 percent of the country - the main reason many visit the country. Guyana's forests also boast a healthy biodiversity - including many endangered species - that enthrall with their beauty.

Kaieteur National Park

Within Kaieteur National Park lies Guyana's crown jewel: Kaieteur Falls. With a sheer drop of 741 feet, Kaieteur Falls is reputedly the world's largest single drop waterfall (it's five-times the size of Niagara Falls). Kaieteur's grandness lies in its sheer size and power (during the rainy season, some 30,000 gallons of water per second spill over a wall of water 400 feet wide) and its beauty is found in its raw and pristine state. On a guided tour of Kaieteur, you learn of - and likely see - the area's abundant biodiversity, including one of Guyana's more spectacular birds, the bright orange Guianan cock-of-the-rock. The prehistorically large tank bromeliads and the tiny, yet highly poisonous, golden dart frogs that live inside them are also highlights. At the top of the falls, visitors can step in the Potaro River just before it tumbles and walk onto an unprotected rock that hangs over the canyon below. Visiting Kaieteur National Park entails either a one-hour flight, or a five-day overland trip that combines travel via minibus, boats, plenty of hiking, and a return flight.

Iwokrama International Centre for Rainforest Conservation and Development

Iwokrama International Centre for Rainforest Conservation and Development was formed in 1989 after the Government of Guyana protected one million acres of pristine as a nature preserve to be used as a living laboratory for research, eco-tourism, and tropical forest management.

Dubbed “The Greenheart of Guyana,” Iwokrama has an impressive number of flora and fauna: 1,500 species of flora, 200 mammals, 500 birds, 420 fish, and 150 species of amphibians and reptiles. Within these are some of the world's largest species: black caiman (alligator); capybara (rodent); arapaima (freshwater fish); anaconda (snake); giant anteater; giant river otter; giant river turtle; and jaguar (largest cat in Western Hemisphere).

Accommodation at Iwokrama is in one of the River Lodge's guest cabins, which line the Essequibo River and are surrounded by rainforest. At the Round House, visitors, researchers, scientists, rangers, and staff share the building's shop, scientific labs, library, and an upper-level, open-air dining hall that offers spectacular views of the river.

Any visit to Iwokrama should include a walk on nature trails; a nighttime boat ride to search for nocturnal wildlife; a trip up the 1,000-foot high Turtle Mountain; a walk along the Canopy Walkway - a series of suspension bridges and viewing decks up to 100 feet high; and a visit to Fair View village to see ancient petroglyphys and tour their butterfly breeding house.

Surama Village

Surama is a small Amerindian village set beautiful savannah surrounded by jungle-covered Pakaraima Mountains. Surama is a role model for community-based ecotourism, and for many years, the village has been offering mountain treks, jungle walks, dugout canoe trips, traditional Amerindian culture, welcoming locals, and guides with encyclopedic knowledge of the rainforest.

Surama offers a few core activities not to be missed: a village tour, a hike up Surama Mountain and a dugout canoe trip on the Burro Burro River. The at-times steep hike up 750-foot high Surama Mountain can be tiring, but the reward is the view from the top: a sweeping vista of Surama valley and the Pakaraima Mountains.

From the eco-lodge, the Burro Burro River and the Carahaa Landing Camp - a basic hammock camp where guests can choose to overnight - is an easy three-mile walk through the forest. On the river, the silence of the canoes provides a great opportunity to spot birds and wildlife, including giant river otter, howler monkey, spider monkey, peccary, and macaws. Ask your guide to bring a handline for fishing and you might catch a toothy piranha.

The Surama Eco-lodge has four basic yet comfortable cabins, and another building with four rooms. The tourism-generated income is spread throughout the community by rotating jobs amongst everybody involved, including the eco-lodge staff, guides, cooks and the farmers, hunters and fishermen providing the food.

With 5,000 square-miles of grasslands, wetlands, forested mountains, and freshwater river systems, Guyana's Rupununi Savannahs are an ecotourism playground. The biodiversity of the Rupununi is also extremely diverse and tourism within this region of Guyana is well established at several lodges (only two of which are mentioned here). Each offer a unique experience not to be missed and visitors should also visit some smaller Amerindian villages with community tourism offerings.

Rock View Lodge

Rock View is an environmentally friendly oasis in the savanna. The comfortable, stylish rooms are complemented by a beautiful swimming pool and wonderful gardens that produce an abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables served at the communal meals.

At the lodge itself there is plenty to do - a swimming pool, volleyball, an eclectic library, the Dakota Bar, hammocks, birdwatching in the gardens - but there's also plenty to see in the surrounding area.

The nearby Panorama Nature Trail makes a loop through the foothills of the Pakaraima Mountains and has a good variety of tree, bird and monkey species. Relaxed horseback riding allows guests to join the vaqueros in rounding-up the cows. Bikes are a great way to explore and Rock View also organizes birdwatching outings and boat trips along the Rupununi River.

Karanambu Ranch

One of Guyana's finest ecotourism destinations, Karanambu Ranch offers private protected lands densely populated with flora and fauna, a conservation trust, an orphaned Giant River Otter rehabilitation program, and exceptional birdwatching and wildlife spotting.

While Diane's acclaimed work rehabilitating giant river otters is fascinating, but there is much more on offer at Karanambu. There are more than 300 species of birds; an impressive list of mammals, including capybara, giant anteaters, giant river otters and bearded saki, red howler, and spider monkeys; and plenty of black caiman in the Rupununi River.

At Karanambu, guests stay in traditional and basic Amerindian-style benabs, or cabins, and guests are treated like old family friends. Local Amerindian guides lead the daily outings, which are typically done via truck in the savannahs, boat on the Rupununi River or by foot on nature trails.

While a trip into the savannas to look for giant anteaters shouldn't be missed, a highlight to Karanambu is boating along the Rupununi River and through the connecting oxbow lakes and ponds, where exotic birds are everywhere and the beauty is overwhelming.

It's hard to imagine a more peaceful place than Crane Pond or Simoni Lakes, sitting quietly in a boat while massive six-feet wide lily pads lap at the bow. If you're lucky, black caimans will be lurking, herons roosting, and macaws screeching while Guyana's national flower, the beautiful Victoria amazonica, slowly opens. Meanwhile you sip one of Diane's famous rum punch drinks and the sky becomes bruised with sunset and day seeps into night.

It's a scene like this - of which there are many throughout Guyana - that will make you realize why you decided to skip the five-star resorts for something different, something much more real.


Photography by Kirk Smock.

Kirk Smock is the author of the Guyana guidebook published by Bradt Travel Guides, and Senior Writer for the Guyana Sustainable Tourism Initiative (GSTI), a joint project of the Guyana Tourism Authority and the United States Agency for International Development/Guyana Trade and Investment Support project.