The airport in Georgetown is brand-new and impressive. This is clearly a country looking to grow as there are large oil reserves and I wonder how long it will be before the pristine rainforest suffers. It’s a 90 minute drive from the airport through industrial suburbs and along poor roads. We finally arrive at Cara Lodge Hotel at 19.30 and meet our fellow travellers. There are 10 of us altogether. It is quite a cosmopolitan group with 2 couples from the US, a couple from Germany, 1 lady from Canada and 1 from Finland. On first sight I am not sure how well we will get on. Time will tell….
Dinner is taken in a pretty internal courtyard. Service is exceedingly slow, which necessitates a second G&T. Unfortunately we could not have one as they had run out of tonic. A rum and sprite had to suffice. I ordered pesto alfredo. Not a wise choice. A huge glutenous mass appeared. Quantity not quality! At least the chicken on top was edible.
There was is no lift so we haul our luggage up the narrow stairs. Our room is on the 2nd floor, and takes time to locate amidst the rabbit warren of balconies. It is basic, but large and clean. The bed is comfortable and there is air-conditioning. We sleep well. Breakfast was simple with under-whelming, surly service. I had a stroll around the hotel grounds whilst waiting for our 11.30 pickup to take us to our charter flight to Kaieteur Falls.
We sit in the small private charter company’s airport lounge. We wait and wait. The flight is delayed but we do not know why. A packed lunch is brought to us. It consists of chicken, rice and bean salad and is quite tasty. We finally leave on a small 12-seater plane at 14.30.
The flight is over 200 km of pristine rainforest, but there is a lot of cloud cover so there is not much to see. The cloud lifts as we approach the falls. Our pilot circles them and we have an excellent view.
There is a small visitor centre where we meet the guide, who will take us to the falls.
He leads us along a track through the forest. He branches off into the trees, whilst signalling to us to be very quiet. We are very lucky indeed. In the distance I glimpse a flash of orange and then several more. We have found the stunning and colourful cock-of-the-rock. This is a bird that I have always wanted to encounter. I first saw its picture on a ‘Brooke Bond Tea’ collector’s card, when I was a child.
All too soon, we leave the beautiful birds and make our way to the falls. This is the dry season but the falls are no less impressive for that. Also it is just our little group. There are no crowds, no handrails or barriers, no people telling us to stay away from the edge. Just raw nature. Incredible.
Venezuela’s Angel Falls are greater in total height, but their drop occurs by stages. Kaieteur is a single cataract 100 meters wide created as the Potaro River makes a sheer drop of 228 meters, nearly five times the height of Niagara.
Giant bromeliads grow in the humidity along the cliffs and inside one I find the tiny endangered golden rocket frog, which is under 2 cm long. All too soon, it is time to re-board our plane. Our pilot kindly makes another couple of low circuits above the falls and we capture some good video.
We could not face another meal in the hotel so take a five minute walk to Froggy’s Grill, which was recommended by our driver. I was not sure about the wisdom of walking around Georgetown at night on our own, but we survived it. Service was slow. It was International Women’s Day and Georgetown was incredibly busy. The food was good when it arrived and significantly better than anything on offer at our hotel.
We are up early for the internal charter flight to Iwokrama River Lodge. The flight is supposed to depart at 08.00. Time-keeping and communication is an issue here. Again we wait and we wait. No explanation as to the delay but we finally leave at 12.30. Somebody says it was because it was raining. If that is the case then I am surprised that any flights ever make it. This is rainforest for goodness sake. Guess what. It rains! We arrive at the lodge at 14.30. Our room is a little cabin with a verandah. The view is lovely and lots of birds flit around the grounds. Although we do not know it yet, this turns out to be the best accommodation of the trip. The room is not particularly large but it has that rare thing in Guyana – screening to prevent insects and wildlife invading the room. No hot water though and we never really adapt to that throughout the trip.
We have a light lunch and then go for a trail walk. Sadly there is not much to see as it is raining and all the animals are hunkering down. We have dinner at 19.00 then go out on a boat on the Essequibo River to see nocturnal creatures. We see lots of caiman and a green iguana, although it does not look that green.
This morning we have opted to hike up Turtle Mountain. This requires an early start with breakfast at 06.00. We then take a 30 minute motorboat trip along the Essequibo River to the start of the trail.
The trail is 2 miles long with an ascent of 300m. This does not sound very challenging, but this is the rainforest. There is no air movement, 100% humidity and a muddy and slippery trail. It is a 2 hour hike to the top and I am very glad that I have brought walking poles with me. It was very hot and by the time we reached the summit we were all soaked in sweat.
It was worth the effort though. The views were good and we even saw a spider monkey posing nicely in the canopy below us.
The descent seemed much easier and at the bottom we drained our water bottles and then took shelter from a sudden downpour at the research station.
In the afternoon we took a boat trip to see the rapids and Amerindian petroglyphs at Kurupukari Falls. The carvings on the stones are 6000 years old.
Local people are swimming and washing their clothes in the river.
We have time to disembark, wander along the riverside and pick our way across the rocks.
There is lots of birdlife, although I fail dismally to capture any great shots of them. I do better with the little things.
There is just one red dirt road that runs from Georgetown to Lethem on the border with Brazil. The only way to cross the Essequibo River, which blocks its path is by the tiny ferry below. There is now a plan to tarmac the road and build a bridge here, which will totally open up Guyana and change it forever. I am glad we have come now. It will be a very different place in a few years time.
We rise early for a final walk before breakfast. There is lots of birdsong, but in the dense vegetation birds are hard to spot and we have few sightings. A local Amerindian couple are walking along the track and tell us that they have just seen a tapir. We walked to where they saw it. We see its tracks but sadly no sign of this shy and elusive animal. We collect our bags from our room. I do a final check and then think “Where are the passports?” I can’t find them. Then I remember that I put them in the desk drawer. There they are along with leads and camera batteries. A good job I checked and lesson learned. If there is no safe, keep them in your backpack.
Transport to our next lodge is an hour’s drive along that bumpy red dust road that I mentioned yesterday. Transport is in a converted Land Rover with benches replacing the backseats. We share the ride with Rachel, Gabi & Christoph. It really is not that comfortable and it is very easy to hit your head when clambering in, which is exactly what Christoph did.
An hour’s drive takes us to the far side of the Iwokrama Forest and our next home for 2 nights – Atta Rainforest Lodge. This is a little oasis in the middle of the rainforest.
The grounds are well manicured and have been planted with shrubs and flowers, which attract an abundance of dragonflies, butterflies and hummingbirds.
There is a short trail walk before lunch and we see this pretty red-fan parrot.
After lunch we visit the canopy walkway, which is a 500 metre walk from the lodge. This sounds easy, but it is draining as the walk involves more than 200 steps, which are roughly hewn out of the forest floor. It is hot and exceedingly humid. The actual canopy walkway looks very old and not that secure. The fact that one of the walkways is now out of action says a lot. Anyway, having come so far, I am determined to give it a go. The metal grids that you walk on are only loosely connected to each other so the whole thing feels very unstable. Fortunately I do not suffer from vertigo, and despite feeling that the whole thing is pretty unsafe, I am happy to look around me and admire the view as I traverse the bridge. The tree platform is not much better. It is secured with rusty bolts and cables. Disconcertingly, it also moves rather a lot too! Paul was less happy and immediately turned round and headed for terra firma as did several others.
I reach for my binoculars and survey the forest canopy. Not much to see initially. Not even any birds. A very different experience from Ecuador where the forest seemingly teemed with wildlife. Still perseverence pays off and in the far distance, probably a mile away I spot some howler monkeys. Even with the zoom lens they are tiny dots.
The sun is setting and we need to return while we can still see where we are going. We hear clicking noises and rustling in the undergrowth. A herd of peccaries appear ahead. Our guide tells us to stand our ground. He says they can be aggressive, but only if they raise the bristles on their necks and click their teeth. Um…. Guess what? That is exactly what they are doing. The two big males at the front edge forward and look pretty intimidating. There is nowhere for us to go. I decide the best form of defence is to make sure that I am standing behind someone else!
I’ve taken a couple of screenshots from the video that I took with my phone. Sorry it is very grainy. First picture is the aggressive males, second one is when they decided to scarper and literally several hundred peccaries stampeded across the trail in front of us. That was quite something!
I really like the lodge. It has a very welcoming feel and the staff take a pride in it. G&T is impossible to obtain here. We introduce the group to rum and ginger ale. It’s a winner.
In the morning we walk down to the main road to birdwatch. It is nigh on impossible to see the birds in the jungle but in the open space beside the road it is easier. It may seem a strange place for nature viewing but despite this being the main road through Guyana, it is not the M1. There may be a vehicle every half hour or so, accompanied by a dense cloud of dust. I am annoyed that I did not bring my long lens on this trip as my medium lens with converter just does not have the reach for distant birds. We saw lots – but no photos worth keeping.
Back at the lodge it is easier and I take pleasure in watching the numerous lizards, birds and insects that frequent the grounds.
After breakfast we have a trail walk and are lucky enough see some spider monkeys. They are such strange looking creatures.
Torrential rain in the afternoon prevents any further activities. It continues to morning so we have ample time to pack. During the night there was a lot of squeaking and scratching in the rafters. In the morning there were loads, and I mean loads, of rodent/bat droppings on the table in our room and pretty much over anything that had been placed on the table. Yuck. I was very grateful that we had a mosquito net to prevent us becoming covered too.
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