Field Guides
How to Book: To reserve a place on a Field Guides tour or for pricing or other information please contact:
Field Guides Incorporated
9433 Bee Cave Rd., #150
Austin, TX 78733
USA
p: 800.728.4953 or 512.263.7295
f: 512.263.0117
e: fieldguides@fieldguides.com
w: www.fieldguides.com
Guyana Birding Tour Description:
Super Shield: Suriname & Guyana - 16 Nights/17 Days
Tour Dates: March 4 to 20, 2007 and February 29 to March 15, 2008
Tour Overview: Good hotels in the cities, simple but comfortable accommodations in the forest, two nights at a hammock camp in the middle of nowhere; easy to moderate terrain with some long rainforest hikes; warm to hot and humid climate..
Think of it like the Louvre and the Petit Palais, the Parthenon and the Acropolis, Disneyland and Epcot Center, Bryce and Zion, the White Sox and the Cubs (alright, that's enough): If you're going all the way over there, you want to experience the Best to the Max. We've got it laid out for you, on a big, beautiful, birding shield--the Guianan Shield, that is--as we explore the wild wonders of Suriname and Guyana. Yes, they're together at last: neighboring Suriname and Guyana (formerly Dutch and British Guyana, respectively) have very small populations concentrated along the coast and a whole lot of untouched rainforest in the interior. A timelessness pervades this region of South America, where capital cities are still medium-sized towns and there's almost nothing except trees taller than three stories. Both countries are striving to develop ecological tourism, especially birding, as a sustainable use of natural habitats, and they are making great progress - so let's support them.
In Suriname, we'll visit Raleigh Falls and the Voltzberg followed by Brownsberg Nature Park, lodged smack in the forest at both venues. Then it's over to Guyana and straight to Kaieteur Falls, where the Potaro River plunges 741 feet off a cliffside in the single longest drop of any waterfall in the world. Pushing deeper into the interior, we'll settle into a comfortable new lodge in the vast Iwokrama Forest Reserve which features miles and miles of forest roads and trails and a new canopy walkway through some of the tallest rainforest in South America, then transfer to the Amerindian village of Surama (where the community has built a very nice little lodge) to bird savanna country and yet more forest.
The Guianan Shield is the oldest, most geologically stable portion of the South American continent. As such, it is loaded with interesting birds, and because there is so much undisturbed habitat, most of them and a rich variety of mammals are findable in a short period of time. Our tour is just two weeks long, and we'll be in a small group, so we're sure to have a great time as we search for these Guianan specialties: Rufous Crab-Hawk, Caica and Red-fan parrots, Green-throated Mango, Crimson Topaz, Guianan Toucanet, Blood-colored Woodpecker, Guianan Piculet, Black-throated and Band-tailed antshrikes, Crimson Fruitcrow, Capuchinbird, White Bellbird, Guianan Red-Cotinga, Guianan Cock-of-the-rock, White-fronted and Black manakins, White-throated Pewee, Boat-billed Tody-Tyrant, Pale-bellied Mourner, Rose-breasted Chat, Blue-backed Tanager, Finsch's Euphonia, and Red-and-black Grosbeak. Macaws and many other parrots and toucans are a frequent sight, primates are present in excellent variety and numbers, and we have a better-than-even chance for that monkey-eating monster, Harpy Eagle. Owling trips are sure to generate some goosebumps as well. Sign up early to join Bret and a few other fortunate birders for this exciting and educational immersion in the ancient forests of the Guianan Shield.
Tour Itinerary: Click here to view day-by-day itinerary.
