Guyana

We left Suriname by boat – this time the truck was with us as we were on a vehicle ferry. The Surinese border was on one side of the river and the Guyanan border was on the other side. When I talk about rivers, I do not mean the rivers we get in England. The rivers in the Amazon basin are vast – you can’t see one side from the other. This river took 40minutes to cross on a mini sealink ferry. Getting into Guyana was the most time consuming border yet. They made us take our bags of the truck to give them a cursory once over then they spent a couple of hours going the truck’s paperwork with a fine-tooth comb. They even checked that the chassis number matched that on the documentation. To be fair – we got it easier than last year’s group. We were through after a couple of hours – last year it took them over 5 hours to check the truck!
Just as we had been lucky with having a Dutch speaking couple on the truck when we were in Suriname, in Guyana we had Denise. Denise is from London but her mum was born in Guyana so she has family in the country. Denise had gone ahead of the truck to spend a few more days with her family and she had used that time to organise extra things for us. Knowing there was limited options for great food near the hotel we were staying in, Denise had organised caterers to bring a home-cooked buffet evening meal along to a nearby bar. Plus because she knew the truck had 4 vegetarians on board – it meant we were really well catered for too. The food was superb and we all stuffed ourselves silly – not believing our luck.
Guyana (or to give it its full name ‘The Cooperative Republic of Guyana’) was formally known as British Guiana as it was a British colony until 1966. English is still the official language but most speak Guyanan Creole which can be very difficult to understand when the speaker is talking quickly. It is another small country consisting of mainly tropical rainforest and it can get ridiculously hot. The first thing we did when we arrived was to book our flights to Kaieteur Falls. This spectacular waterfall is only accessible by plane. It is in the middle of dense forest with no roads going there. It is also at the other end of the country to Georgetown – the capital city where we were based. The 45 minute flight in the 12 seater plane was a thrill in itself. I was the last on the plane – they called us alphabetically but it meant I was lucky enough to get the window seat on the right hand side. I did not know it at the time, but it was definitely the place to be.


We flew over miles and miles of rainforest and then the pilot told us to look below. We saw small waterfalls and were quite disappointed – thinking is that it? But then we turned a bend in the river and saw the breath-taking sight that is Kaieteur Falls. This spectacular waterfall is the world’s largest single drop waterfall. The remoteness and difficulty in getting there, makes the place even more impressive as it is untouched by human advancement. The planes only operate on some days and then they will only do two flights – so a maximum of 24 visitors on those days. When you arrive, you are met by a local guide and are allowed one and a half hours to visit the falls then the plane will leave. Even when Prince Harry visited a couple of years ago, he was only allowed to stay for the allotted time. Our guide (who was a lady from the local indigenous tribe) took us to three different viewpoints pointing out flora and fauna on the way. We were not allowed to touch any of the plants or deviate from the path. They take their national park conservation seriously here. As you can see from the photos, the Falls are stunning. Each view point got us closer and closer – this is not peak season either. At its height, the falls are double the width they are currently.

On the return walk towards the plane, our guide stopped suddenly and told us all to be quiet. She had heard a Cock Of The Rock. These are bright orange birds that have a large crest of their heads. They are visually stunning so we crept through the rainforest in order to get closer to them. We were very lucky to see three of them, in fact two of them started fighting and we were engrossed but the guide insisted we leave as our time in the park was up!
By the time we got back to our hotel it was already 7pm. Normally, this wouldn’t be a problem but today was Friday 22nd February. Tomorrow was the 23rd. This is the most important date in the Guyanan calendar as it is the date that the country officially ‘divorced’ itself from Britain. At 8pm tonight we were due to leave to attend the flag raising ceremony. There would be singing and dancing and military parades before the President David Granger raises the flag of Guyana at midnight. Denise’s cousin Ray came and picked us up, along with a couple of bottles of rum and we watched the festivities, cheered when the flag was raised, tried to join in with the national anthem and marvelled at the fireworks.


Then we very quickly ran back to the hotel got changed into ‘paint-worthy’ clothing and hopped back into Ray’s car. He drove us out of the city to the national stadium so we could attend Jouvert. This is the break of day – morning party before the main carnival begins at 11am. Thousands upon thousands of people were there, drinking, partying and being covered in paint and water – hence the paint worthy clothes.
It was half past 4am when we finally got in, we had to leave Jouvert in full swing because we had to be up again at 9am. Another cousin of Denise, Dolly and her husband Arthur live on the main carnival route and they had generously agreed to host all 15 of us. Providing us with shade and a garden to sit in, she cooked the most amazing food for us and had many many many drinks chilling in the cool boxes.


It was such a good day. The processions started around half 11 and were still going at nightfall. Unfortunately it was ridiculously hot, we were so lucky that Dolly had a shaded garden for us. The next day, it is safe to say that everybody had a long lie-in but the celebrations were not quite over. Along with lots more people, we made our way down to the sea-wall to watch the sun set and then enjoy a variety of street food, drinks and very loud music. The Guyanese definitely know how to throw a party!
After 3 days of partying it was time to leave Georgetown and drive the length of the country to the border with Brazil. Despite it being the only road out of the country, it was in such a bad state it could barely be called a road. It is not covered in tarmac, it is simply orange mud with pot-holes the size of small cars. On the worse day, after nearly 12 hours of driving we had travelled about 150km! (The road is scheduled to be tar-sealed in the next couple of years). Despite the slow-going, we just managed to make it to a meeting point, where a chap was waiting for us by the side of a river along with 3 boats. We were going to spend the night at a luxury eco-lodge!
We abandoned Bob (the truck) at the riverside and climbed aboard for a 3 hour boat ride down the river. Along the way we saw a variety of bird life not to mention a turtle or two and some caiman. When we got to Rewa Eco-lodge, we could not believe our eyes. We had beautiful cabins complete with outside showers (don’t worry, they were totally private) so you could listen to the sounds of the jungle whilst showering. The following morning, it was a half 5 breakfast so we could head out at dawn to watch and listen to the riverside jungle come to life. We headed to a beautiful pond (think more like mini lake) which was only 5 minutes in land. The water was covered with giant water lilies and we saw a variety of animals including eagles, caiman, arapaima – the worlds largest ‘fresh water fish and all sorts of water birds. In the jungle you could hear the howler monkeys alongside various different bird calls.
After lunch and after walking around the local community village, it was time to head back into the boats for the three hour journey back up-river to find Bob again. The wildlife spotting on this return journey was amazing. We saw giant river otters (the largest and rarest otters in the world), more caiman than you can shake a stick at, turtles, a small capybara type animal, giant birds and two – yes two anacondas! The first was curled along a branch and quite difficult to see but we were over the moon. Then just 10 minutes later, we find another anaconda basking in the sun on the riverbank. It was spectacular and a fitting end to our time in Guyana!

Suriname

After leaving French Guiana, we entered what was formally Dutch Guiana – now Suriname. This was a homecoming for one of our passengers. Gerrit who is Dutch, has been living in Australia since he was a teenager. However when he was nine, following the death of his father, his family left Holland for Dutch Guiana where he spent many happy years before fleeing the country when it went through independence. As we crossed over into Suriname, Gerrit was as giddy as a child before Christmas. His enthusiasm was contagious and we were all excited.
After crossing the border, we made straight for the capital city Paramaribo and camped at a campsite on the outskirts. It was my cook group again and we were busy mashing potatoes whilst the others were having fun in the pool or in the bar. At least it didn’t rain! The following morning as we were cooking breakfast, a school group turned up to have swimming lessons in the campsite pool. Our kitchen was set up next to the pool which made for a bizarre experience!
To get to our hostel in the centre of Paramaribo, we had to cross the huge Suriname river on the new bridge. The bridge span was vast but it was also the steepest bridge I have been on. At one point I thought we were going into orbit! Looking out of the truck, directly down to the river below was quite scary at times! Like French Guiana, Suriname is also a small country mainly full of tropical rainforests. Because of the Dutch colonisation, the swamps had been replaced with many canals. People still speak mainly Dutch here but it is intermingled with a local creole language as well. Trying to decipher signs and menus in Dutch is almost impossible! Only 550,000 people live in the whole country and the capital city, at times felt like a deserted village.

Gerrit immediately hired a moped and took his wife Marion on a sight-seeing tour. He took us all to see his former childhood house and taught us all about the history and customs of the country. I went on a hair-wrapping course and tried to learn how to wear head scarves. I wasn’t very successful! One of the stranger customs in Suriname is that of the bird singing contests. Men (only men – never women) keep songbirds in cages and train them to sing the most melodies. The birds (in their cages) are taken out for walks, taken for rides on the mopeds – hung up in public areas. On a Sunday morning from 6am, these men meet for competitions. The birds go head to head whilst multiple judges count the different tweets before a winner is announced. This is taken incredibly seriously and training methods are kept secret!
With a few others, I went on a dolphin spotting cruise down the Commewinje river. I managed to see a pod of dolphins in the river and even managed to take a photo whilst holding on to my complimentary rum and coke and plantain crisps and having to move from side to side on a very small wooden boat. It was a very enjoyable evening. We stopped at the tiny village of Marienburg which is still a coffee plantation and were offered some of the local snacks – one of which was a cross between a bread-bun and a donut but is then covered in a very hot sauce. They like incredibly hot hot spicy sauces here. I had mine sauce free!
As well as Dutch and indigenous people, there are also many Laos, Chinese and Indonesian people in the country. This makes for a great variety of food and tasty vegetarian options. I even went to a Chinese market on Sunday morning and stuffed myself with marinated tofu – it was a very pleasant change from just eating plastic cheese and eggs.

To get to our next stop in Suriname, we had to leave the truck again and head down river for 45mins in a small wooden boat to the settlement of Isadou. We were staying in some lovely lodges, the only downside being we had to take all our food and kitchen supplies with us. They provided us with a basic kitchen but all food and drink for a couple of days had to be carried by us. It is amazing how much food and drink a party of 15 people need – especially when it was Marion’s birthday as well!
It was great to relax in a hammock and watch the river go by. We bathed in the river and I did jump when the little fish started biting my bottom for the first time! I went on a night boat ride and saw the eyes of a couple of caiman but the sounds of the river at night were magical. The river in the moonlight looked like it was made from polished black obsidian. In the daytime we spotted the most amazing looking caterpillar and some from the group spotted a sloth. All too soon, it was time to go back and make our way to the next destination.