Guyana, South America - The land where time stops
Escape to the ancient and untouched rainforests of the Amazon. Each morning, the sun begins to rise over the rainforest and cut through the heady, tropical air, already heavy with the promise of the day’s heat to come, another fairytale can begin. Life here is different, simple. For example, the boat to Bartica is scheduled to leave twice a day… when it is full. Guyana is a land of wonders. it has a little bit of everything and not a lot of everything.
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| One of our friends' home |
When most people think of South America, they think of Latinos, Spanish or Portuguese syllables. However, you can find the English language spoken here if you look long enough. Guyana is a little piece of land that happens to be one of the smallest in South America. It has a population of less than a million, but what a million it is. Guyana is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, and the only country in South America whose official language is English, or at least a kind of English. Even though they are taught the Queens English, most of us Westerners will have trouble keeping up with their ”Broken English” accents and heavy slang. Why should you travel here? You should pick this little untouched emerald if you want to go to places that are relatively unspoiled. Guyana hardly has any tourists and is probably the least touristic country I have ever visited.
Guyana, or officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, does culturally belong to the Anglophone Caribbean and is one of its only countries that isn’t an island. So the people you will meet here share the same temperament of the other former English colonies located on the surrounding islands. They are warm, caring, friendly, and very sexual.
We will begin our tour in Georgetown, the capital. A natural place to start since 90% of the 760.000 people lives here, although it covers only around 10% of the country. That leaves the rest of the 90% more or less untouched for the explorers that want to go on adventures in one of the largest unspoiled rainforests in South America, some parts of which are almost inaccessible to humans.
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| Checking out the beach |
Georgetown
What first caught my attention when driving through Georgetown was the amount of religious places… They’re everywhere, and they worship almost every God. The second was the fact that in some places in the city, the houses stand on rather tall pillars. When I asked the locals why, I was told that there were two ways the rainy season could affect Guyana, and either it destroyed the harvest or it flooded the city. And just for precaution, I was also informed that when it did flood the city, I should make sure to watch out for crocodiles in the streets.In the city, the houses looked, for the most part, dilapidated and poorly maintained, while other streets looked high class and über-chic. All of the national buildings were restored to perfection, like St. George’s Cathedral, which I was proudly told by the locals was the largest wooden church structure in the world. It was so huge that no matter how much I tried to arrange my camera I couldn’t fit it in the picture. After spending a few days in Georgetown, check out the big markets where you can buy everything your heart might be longing for, watching a cricket- or a football match played at night, you might want to work a little on your tan. But don’t head to the beach, because being dark skinned and non-touristy, the Guyanese do not use their beach for bathing or tanning. They use it as a place to throw waste and stuff they no longer need. A more pleasant thing to do is to pack up your gear and head into the countryside to do a little exploring.
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| St. Georges Cathedral |
Gateway to the Interior
Guyana is rich in nature and prides itself on its natural sights like the Kaieteur Falls, the world’s largest single-drop waterfall (by volume). This might not be a backpacker tour; taking into consideration that the only tour they offered when I was there was a flight in a one propeller airplane, and it cost around 350 dollars per person. Instead, set out on an adventure into the unknown. Direction… Bartica Essequibo. This is a town on the left bank of the Essequibo River in Cuyuni-Mazarunwhich, known as ‘The Gateway to the Interior’. Getting to Bartica isn’t easy in itself.One has to drive quite far out of the city, cross Demerara Harbor Bridge, the world’s fourth-longest floating bridge, and catch a speedboat down the river for a few hours. This is where the boat departs twice a day whenever the boat is full and the driver is ready. You can’t really leave and come back, you lose your spot if you do, so all you can do is wait. Once you are there though, it will be worth all the efforts. Bartica is a charming little town with the freshest fruit you will ever find, and the rainforest just outside your window. Take a boat tour around and stop at a few places to enjoy nature that has no ”western” trails, and see pristine nature the way it is shown on TV. This sort of nature is not only breathtaking, it is so untouched by man that you will hardly see any sign of human existence for as long as you go around in the boats. The people that run the boat tours are self-employed and not owned by any company. This means you pay a flat rate for a boat and then you can choose how many people you want to be in the boat. The price will not change.
A private tour will also give you the freedom to choose when, where, and how far you want to go, you just pay the man a little extra. Have you ever wanted to experience the rainforest by night, hear all the sounds of the wildlife, and see eyes glancing back at you in the dark? Give the boatman a little, and he will help you live a lot of experiences you would never get the chance to have in any other places in the world.
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| Old Dutch tunnel system |
I've later been told that Guyana doesn't have crocodiles in the rivers and fields, but Caimans. These are a smaller subfamily of alligators or alligatorid crocodilian. There are a few different varieties of the Caiman in Guyana. The most normal ones don't grow to over 40 kg and mostly enter the cities when they are flooded. They generally come from the sugarcane fields and venture into the city. They are not considered dangerous. With the exception of the Black Caiman. This is the largest caiman species in the world. It can reach up to 6 meters and are primarily found in slow-moving rivers in the Amazon. The Black Caimans are very rarely encountered in Guyana.
You can also stop and see the remains of the tunnel system created by the Dutch when they established a colony in Essequibo in 1616. Normally you have to pay a fee to enter this island, but when you are going on a tour with a local, our guide just happens to know the caretaker of the island from church every Sunday, so free entrance. This is a pretty good example of how the country works.
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| Borrowing Mangos |
Word of advice: Book your trip and hotel in advance, otherwise it will be difficult to find a hotel in this country. And if you tell your hotel that you won’t be needing a receipt they will automatic withhold the tax from your bill.
*All photos are private and taken by me.
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