Birdwatching: Rainforest & Rivers

Guyana is just being discovered by birdwatchers.  This land offers all the avian richness of the lowland forests of adjacent Venezuela, yet with a tourism infrastructure that makes birding areas accessible in far greater comfort. This program allows an ornithological reconnaissance of the country, visiting the coastal plain, the sandbelt forest, the seemingly limitless forests of the interior and the Rupununi Savannah along the Brazilian border. The tour includes travel on a number of small watercourses and two great rivers, the Demerara and the Essequibo, as well as a visit to Kaieteur Falls, surely among the world’s most imposing scenic wonders.

Saturday: Arrive in Guyana and transfer to Georgetown. Overnight at Cara Lodge.

Sunday: From the airport at nearby Ogle we’ll fly by chartered aircraft over the Demerara and Essequibo Rivers and hundreds of miles of unbroken tropical rainforest to land at Kaieteur, the world’s highest free-falling waterfall. Though Venezuela’s Angel Falls are greater in total height, their filamentous drop occurs by stages whereas Kaieteur is a single, massive, thundering cataract 100 meters wide created as the Potaro River makes a sheer drop of 228 meters, nearly five times the height of Niagara. The spectacle is the more impressive for its remoteness and it is altogether possible that we’ll be the only persons viewing it. Here we will hope to find White-chinned and White-tipped Swifts swirling over the gorge, and perhaps we’ll be lucky enough to see the astonishingly colorful Guianan Cock-of-the-Rock.

Taking off again, we’ll continue to the Brazilian border and Orinduik Falls, where the Ireng River thunders over steps and terraces of solid jasper, a semi precious stone. With a backdrop of the rolling grass covered hills of the Pakaraima Mountains, this is truly one of the most beautiful locations in Guyana’s hinterland. Overnight at Cara Lodge. Breakfast and lunch are included.

Monday: Just after 9AM, we will transfer to Ogle Airstrip for a flight over the rainforest to the Rupununi Savannah and land at Annai, where we’ll transfer to a four-wheel drive and travel northward to the Amerindian community of Surama. The village is set in five square miles of savannah and surrounded by the densely forested Pakaraima Mountains. Surama’s inhabitants are mainly from the Macushi tribe and still observe many of the traditional practices of their forebears. Our accommodations will be in the small community guest house, and our meals will feature excellent local produce. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are included.

Tuesday: We’ll arise before dawn to walk across the savannah and make the easy ascent of Surama Mountain in the cool of the morning. Breakfast will be served at a point overlooking the village, whilst looking for Pearl Kite, White-tailed and Savannah Hawk, and with a broad prospect of savannahs and the rounded peaks of the Pakaraima’s. We’ll return to the village for lunch. Later, as the afternoon begins to cool off, we’ll make our way on foot through the rainforest to the Burro Burro River, where we’ll spend the night in a hammock camp at Carahaa Landing. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are included.

Wednesday: Soon after daybreak we’ll set out on the river for a quiet and skillfully-guided journey, hearing the voices of many birds singing in near darkness in the forest, and seeing many of them later when the light grows stronger. We’ll also search the banks for such mammals as Giant River Otter, Tapir, Tayra and Black Spider Monkey. After returning to the village for lunch, we’ll leave Surama by 4x4 Land Cruiser and travel north through the rainforest stopping at a trail we’ll hope to find Guianan Cock-of-the Rock at a locality where the birds are known to display and nest.

The journey continues onto the Iwokrama Canopy Walkway. Here we can bird watch from the vantage of 35 meters up in the canopy. After dinner we return to the walkway to experience the canopy at night. Overnight in Iwokrama Atta Rainforest Lodge. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are included.

Thursday: This morning we welcome the dawn chorus from the Iwokrama Canopy Walkway. Then transfer by 4x4 along the trail where there is a good chance to see the elusive Jaguar. The Iwokrama forest is rapidly gaining an international reputation for its healthy jaguar populations that seem not to be troubled by the appearance of curious humans. No promises, but many have been lucky! Eventually we reach the Essequibo River and the Iwokrama Field Station. We then set out by boat for half an hour or less to the foot of Turtle Mountain. Here we’ll explore the trail for a few hours, visiting Turtle Ponds and climbing to an elevation of about 900 feet for a spectacular view of the forest canopy below.

On the return trip we’ll visit Fair View, a nearby Amerindian village and in late afternoon we’ll take a walk on Screaming Piha Trail near the Field Station. Finally, after dark, we’ll set out on the river once more, in hopes of finding one or another of its four species of caiman, and listening for the voices of nocturnal birds. Overnight at the Iwokrama Field Station at Kurupukari. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are included.

Friday: Making another early start, we’ll embark on the Essequibo and circumnavigate nearby Indian House Island, before returning to the Field Station for breakfast. We then depart with a packed lunch, traveling to a locality known as Mori Scrub, characterized by an unusual low, sandy forest. This supports an interesting assemblage of bird species, among them Rufous-crowned Elaenia, Black Manakin and Red-shouldered Tanager. In the afternoon we’ll travel by 4x4 Land Cruiser back toward the Rupununi and Annai, its northernmost community. The Rupununi Savannah is to Guyana what the Gran Sabana is to Venezuela, an extensive area of grassland with termite mounds and scattered or riparian woodland. It differs in that much of it is devoted to cattle ranching, though the large ranches are not very productive. Indeed, one can travel for hours without seeing a domestic animal of any sort. Needless to say, the birdlife here is markedly different from that of the rainforest. Overnight at Rock View Lodge. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are included.

Saturday: With its tropical gardens and flowering trees, our lodge resembles an oasis in the savannah, and attracts many species of birds, particularly nectar feeders and frugivores. Nearby patches of light forest are home to certain antbirds and flycatchers, and of course the grasslands support an avifauna of their own. We’ll explore the area on foot, and as the afternoon cools we’ll travel a short distance for birdwatching in the Pakaraima foothills. Overnight at Rock View Lodge. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are included.

Sunday: This morning we’ll travel by 4x4 across the savannah to Ginep Landing and the Rupununi River, where we’ll embark for travel upstream to Karanambu Ranch. This is the home of Diane McTurk, widely known for her work rehabilitating orphaned Giant River Otters. Our birdwatching here will be largely in woodland patches or gallery forest along the river where we’ll hope to find such species as Spotted Puffbird, Striped Woodcreeper and Pale-bellied Tyrant-Manakin. When water levels are appropriate a wooded swamp near the ranch is the site of a surprisingly large colony of Boat-billed Herons, and at any season the river and airstrip provide habitat for no fewer than eight species of nightjars. Overnight at Karanambu Ranch. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are included.

Monday and Tuesday: Birdwatching from daybreak to nightfall or later, we’ll devote this entire day to exploring Karanambu and its varied habitats, traveling by boat to certain localities up and downstream, and by Land Rover to one or another forest patch. Double-striped Thick-knees are among the sparse inhabitants of the grasslands, and at widely scattered ponds we may find concentrations of storks and other water birds. Overnight at Karanambu Ranch. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are included.

Wednesday: After some early morning birdwatching near the ranch buildings we’ll fly back to Georgetown and transfer by bus to Parika. Take a boat trip on the mighty Essequibo River to Shanklands Rainforest Resort, a series of cottages built on a hill on the river’s right bank and overlooking its enormous breadth. We’ll settle in and start exploring the grounds in late afternoon. Overnight at Shanklands Rainforest Resort. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are included.

Thursday: Walking a fairly extensive network of roads and trails we’ll devote this day to birdwatching in mature tropical forest. We may find such species as Red-fan Parrot, Tawny-bellied Screech-Owl, Racket-tailed Coquette and any of more than 20 species of antbirds. Here the sheer diversity of Guianan forest birdlife is very impressive. Overnight at Shanklands Rainforest Resort. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are included.

Friday: After watching the day come over the vast expanse of the river, we’ll board a powerful motorboat and travel down to Parika at its mouth, here 21 miles in width. We’ll then travel by road following the seawall eastward, seeing the system of canals and polders that allow sugar and rice cultivation on land below sea level, and reaching Georgetown by crossing the Demerara on the world’s longest pontoon bridge. In the afternoon we’ll take a tour of the city to see its extraordinary wooden architecture and to shop in its exciting markets and craft shops. We’ll conclude at the extensive and beautiful Botanic Garden, where, if we are lucky, the trip’s ornithological finale will be Blood-colored Woodpecker, an astonishingly colorful Veniliornis found only in the Guianas and even there almost wholly limited to the narrow coastal plain. Overnight at Cara Lodge. Breakfast is included.

Saturday: Transfer to the airport for your departing flight. Breakfast is included.

As with any trip involving wildlife it is impossible to guarantee a sighting, but all trips are taken to known active sites where previous sightings have been confirmed. For more information about this program, contact PanAmerican Travel Services at 800.364.4359.

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