An escape from the sea of green

Macushi child at Nappi Village

A few days ago, I was given the opportunity to join a tourist group on their journey to the Rupununi Savannas, about one and a half hours south of the Iwokrama Field Station. We all piled in to the back of a land cruiser and headed off on the bumpy mud road. During the trip, I scoured the sides of the road for any jaguars, but was unsuccessful, better luck next time!

 Stop one: Canopy Walkway

Our first stop was Atta's Canopy Walkway. The site is very magical, situated in a small clearing in the middle of the dense rainforest. Atta has a lodge equipped with a small cafe, cabins and bathrooms with outdoor showers (since the rain is so powerful here, you could just stand without the shower on during a rainstorm and it would be the same)! The hike to the walkway is an easy climb and takes about twenty minutes. On our walk, there was a light mist which made bird spotting difficult, but it was very refreshing. Here are some shots of the walkway on our grey, misty morning. I got really excited when we saw two Crested Guan at eye level in a tree across the way. The Crested Guan is a very noisy bird that resembles a turkey.

junction of walkway

walking the walk!

crested guan sighting up in canopy

Two Currasaws in the underbrush shadows

 Stop 2: Bina Hill Institute

After the Canopy Walkway, we continued south along the 'highway' towards the Rupununi Savanna. The change from the jungle to the savanna was dramatic. At one moment we were driving through a sea of green and the next moment we were spat out onto a vast savanna that resembled east Africa without the big game. We soon arrived to the Bina Hill Institute, the headquarters for the North Rupununi District Development Board, a partnership with sixteen of the Amerindian Villages in the Rupununi Savannas. One of the fantastic initiatives of the NRDDB are the Wildlife Clubs, where children in the villages can learn about the Guyana Shield's environment from the age of eight. Many of the guides and rangers who work at Iwokrama started their education through the Wildlife Clubs.

Brown blob is a wild bore!

poster in Bina Hill Institute of Wildlife Festival in 2010

 Stop 3: Rockview Lodge and Annai Village

We then drove to Rockview Lodge where we dropped off the guests for their plane departure back to Georgetown. It was great to finally see the beautiful Rockview Lodge, where I have been coordinating bookings with Iwokrama visitors since I started working at Iwokrama. Rockview has a gorgeous garden and a swimming pool. Hopefully I will get the chance in the future to stay at Rockview as a guest during one of my weeks off!

Stop #4: Aranaputa Women's Coop Peanut Butter Factory

I was so so excited to stop by the Aranaputa Peanut Butter Factory, just fifteen minutes south of Rockview Lodge. They have been serving this peanut butter at the lodge and it is soo delicious (and a life saver since breakfast is often just plain white bread) :). This factory is an amazing initiative started in 2005 to increase employment opportunities in the Aranaputa Valley. I made sure to stock up on peanut butter during my visit before heading back to the field station. 

Big City Life

Hello my lovelies, I hope you had a good week. This past week I enjoyed my week off 'turn around' in Georgetown! It was fabulous to be in a room with air conditioning, sleep in past six am and drink fruit smoothies. It was also refreshing to have no set travel plans and plan each day on a whim.

Georgetown Highlights

I visited Georgetown's main market, Stabroek Market where I enjoyed a snack of mini bananas called bananitos (super delicious, try them if you get a chance!)

Bustle of Stabroek Market on Saturday, main shopping day

 We also visited the Georgetown Cathedral where my friend's grandparents got married in 1937 :) This Cathedral dating back to 1889 is said to be one of the tallest wooden structures in the world. This is a great maintained example of Georgetown's colonial past.

view of front of cathedral

all wood!

Angel statue inside Cathedral

 I also took a day drive along Guyana's eastern coast to see the small coastal villages which make up the region of Berbice. We stopped by an old sugar cane plantation which is still running today. Here is an ancient cart among many other items still used. 

 This week I enjoyed a lot of socializing with my new Iwokrama friends (many of which who are leaving by the end of the month, tear!). We had a delicious potluk one evening at one friend's house that had an incredible assortment of Guyanese cuisine. We wined and dined at restaurants like the Dutch Bottle Cafe and Cara Lodge where I attempted to eat as many fruits and vegetables as possible :). During an especially hot afternoon, we relaxed at Georgetown's popular and only coffee bar, Oasis Cafe. We also took a lazy stroll through the Botanical Gardens and Zoo where I saw an anaconda, manatees, a jaguar, harpy eagles and tyras to name a few.  I felt like I was cheating, because I want to see all of these animals in the wild! 

cute little Manatee!

All in all it was a fantastic week off filled with refreshingly lazy activities. After an extremely bumpy trip back to the interior in a poorly suspended 4x4, I am looking forward to my three week work term in the field station filled with more adventures at Iwokrama!

xo S

PS: Sadly my camera died after the first day, but I will post some more Georgetown pictures from my friend's camera in a few days!

Finally Found a Screaming Piha

Whenever I venture out on the trails around the field station, I am greeted by the loud call of the Screaming Piha. A few days ago, I managed to capture a clip through a high definition scope of a Screaming Piha performing its common call high above in the canopy. This bird is very territorial and uses its call to communicate this to surrounding birds. It camouflages very well and is very hard to spot despite being very easy to hear. Without help from one of the Iwokrama guides, I would never have been able to find the bird!