Naturetrek
How to Book: To reserve a place on a Naturetrek birding tour to Guyana or for pricing or other information please contact:
Naturetrek
Cheriton Mill, Cheriton
Alresford Hants SO24 0NG
UK
p: 44.1962.733051
f: 44.1962.736426
e: info@naturetrek.co.uk
w: www.naturetrek.co.uk
Guyana Birding Tour Description:
Guyana - A Timeless Paradise
Tour Dates:
October 20 to November 5, 2007 and November 5 to November 21, 2007
March 5 to March 21, 2008 and October 4 to October 20, 2008
Tour Overview: An exciting 17-day holiday in search of the birds, mammals and other natural history amongst the pristine rainforests, rivers and savannah of a little-known and unspoiled South American country.
Guyana lies at the point where the Caribbean meets South America on its North Atlantic seaboard. Although little known, it is nonetheless a wonderful country, blessed with unspoiled natural beauty and great rivers, waterfalls and unexplored rainforest. Truly a timeless paradise, Guyana is a land of immense biodiversity. Here, Jaguars still roam the forests; rivers hold Giant River Otter, Black Caiman and Arapaima (the world's largest freshwater fish) and Harpy Eagle and Guianan Cock-of-the-Rock thrive amongst an avifauna of over 700 species.
Our holiday begins with a morning flight to the majestic and breathtaking Kaieteur and Orinduik Falls. Situated in the heart of Guyana on the Potaro River, a tributary of the mighty Essequibo, Kaieteur was first seen by Europeans in 1870. With a sheer drop of 228 metres, the falls are five times the height of Niagara, and their pounding waters create an eternal rainbow over the mist-covered boulders of the gorge. There is no waterfall in the world discharging so much water over such a great drop! Nearby, the table-top summit of a tepuis (the classic 'Lost World-like' table-top mountain typical of the region), on which our plane lands, supports an amazing ecosystem which we will explore, hoping to encounter a male Guianan Cock-of-the-Rock in full display! Our flight then continues to the Orinduik Falls, where the Ireng River thunders over steps and terraces of solid jasper. With a backdrop of rolling, grass-covered hills (the Pakaraima Mountains), this is one of the most beautiful locations in Guyana's remote interior.
Next we transfer by plane and boat to the Timberhead Rainforest Resort, an idyllic lodge set in tall sandbelt forest at the edge of an open marsh. Sungrebes and Sunbitterns frequent the creeks, while Redshouldered Macaws nest in the Moriche Palms in front of the lodge. From here our adventure will continue with an extended tour of Guyana's remote interior. Heading south, endless rainforest dramatically gives way to a rolling savannah that is sliced by rivers and broken by hills which rise suddenly from the plains. This is the Rupununi Savannah, a vast land of huge skies and sun-scorched plains, interrupted by patches of scrub and riparian woodland, swamps and lakes, together with a scattering of Amerindian villages and cattle ranches.
We land at a remote airstrip and transfer to Karanambu, an isolated cattle ranch and home to Diane McTurk, famous for her work rehabilitating orphaned Giant River Otters to the wild. Here we will explore the maze of lagoons along the Rupununi River with Diane, in search of Giant River Otters, Red Howler Monkeys, Capybara and Black Caiman. The quiet backwaters here are home to the legendary Arapaima, the largest of all scaled freshwater fish. Lakes and ponds are crammed with Jabirus, egrets, herons and other waterbirds, and blanketed by the enormous pads of the Victoria amazonica water lily, Guyana's national flower. On one morning we will make an early start to reach an area of rolling grassland which is home to a population of Giant Anteaters. With luck, and with the help of the vacqueros riding barefoot in the stirrup, we will locate one of these two-metre long animals excavating its breakfast from one of the red termite mounds that stud the savannah.
At Annai, the Rupununi's northern-most Amerindian community, we will enjoy all the comforts that our luxurious accommodation has to offer. During our stay we will make a pre-dawn visit to a 'canopy walkway', set deep within the Iwokrama Rainforest, to enjoy the dawn and its associated peak period of bird activity. Our viewing platform high in the forest canopy offers views across the treetops and access to birds rarely visible from the ground, possibly including the magnificent Harpy Eagle. Our next base is at the field station at Iwokrama, a vast wilderness of one million acres. Here we awake to the roar of Red Howler Monkeys and the calls of toucans. Rainforest mammals, though never conspicuous, are well represented at Iwokrama and, with luck, we may encounter the impressive Black Spider Monkey and shaggy Guianan Saki, as well as a Banded Tamandua, Kinkajou, or even the elusive Jaguar. Iwokrama is rapidly gaining an international reputation for its healthy Jaguar population and we will make a special effort to find this most impressive of South American cats. Large macaws are still wonderfully common, and we should be treated to daily flights of Blue-and-yellow, Red-and-green and Scarlet Macaws.
Finally, a little culture in colonial Georgetown, together with a visit to the Botanical Gardens where the astonishing Blood-coloured Woodpecker is a possibility, will round off what is likely to be an unforgettable tour.
Tour Itinerary: Click here to view day-by-day itinerary.
