On the beach at Charlotteville

[C] We have been staying in a very nice small flat with a kitchen/dining/sitting room as well as 2 bedrooms, which opens onto a narrow verandah onto the little road in front of the fishing beach. We swam there the first day we arrived, among the boats, but we have usually walked a mile to Pirate's Bay, an even nicer beach. The coral there is very good, and we have really enjoyed snorkelling, and sitting on the beach - though it is hard to keep out of the sun in the afternoon, way too hot for us! Behind is a steep tree clothed valley, with a few paths, where I have gone in the early morning to birdwatch, seeing lots of forest birds.

We have attempted to walk in the surrounding hills, but have been thwarted by heavy rain, which trapped us (under a small shelter) for over two hours on Flagstaff Hill, drenched to the skin! We spent the next day mainly reading in our nice little flat, looking at the rain falling on the sea, and watching the frigate birds cruising hopefully around above the laughing gulls and Royal terns, looking for a free lunch. The day after we got a guide to take us into the rain forest on the Main Ridge, but once again rain drenched us - we are beginning to realise that rain forests do mean just that - lots of rain! We took the bus down the Atlantic coast to Scarborough and on to Bon Accord, where we spent the first two nights of our trip - tomorrow evening we will be flying home, looking forward to seeing family and friends, but sad that our adventures are coming to an end.

[S] I am planning to 'revisit' some of the blog entries for the places we have visited and add photos and perhaps further comments.

Aerial Combat and coral reefs

[s]
We have now spent a couple of days in Speyside, on the Atlantic coast of Tobago. Off Speyside is an island called Little Tobago which features in the David Attenborough series 'The trials of Life'. Red-billed tropic birds nest here, but they are subject to the attentions of a larger bird, the Magnificent frigate-bird, called here the 'Man of war' bird, which obtains its food by pulling the long tails of the tropic bird when it is flying back from fishing. The tropic bird then regurgitates the fish it has swallowed (intended for its chick) and the attacking bird then catches and eats the regurgitated food. We saw this happening, as well as seeing the very graceful tropic birds fly to their nests (unmolested).

After the trip to the island by boat we did some snorkelling on the nearby Angel coral reef from the boat and I took some pictures (underwater).
We went for nice walk on a trail near here this morning and saw some birds, but the best thing was the spectacular views of the rocky surf-fringed coast and islands.
Tomorrow we leave for Charlotteville which is on the Caribbean coast and has a sheltered bay where you can swim. The bay here does not seem to be safe for swimming - there is a beach facility with changing rooms etc and notices saying 'swimming prohibited'. Also the actual beach is very narrow.

Blanchiseuse on Trinidad's North coast

[s] - a quick note while awaiting the ferry!
We have arrived in Trinidad and spent the first night at a Benedictine Guest house near a monastery on the southern edge of the Northern range. The view over the plains was spectacular, but Cath did not see many birds, though we had a couple of nice hikes among the forested valleys.
We then traveled by bus via Port of Spain to Blanchiseuse, on the North coast. This has a very pretty sandy beach as well as some potential for hiking. It was not safe to swim in the sea as the surf is very strong (we did paddle) but we hiked up to a nearby river pool and had a swim under a small waterfall. Cathy did the whole thing and climbed up to an upper pool and was washed down the waterfall (more accurately waterslide) more or less inadvertently due to the strong flow of the river - rather painful in fact.
In the evening we went to look for leatherback turtles which lay their eggs on the beach at night during March. As we were walking along at 9:20 PM (in the dark) we noticed something throwing sand about. Briefly I though it was a person lying there and idly throwing sand down the beach but we quickly realised that it was a smallish leatherback turle preparing the hole for its eggs. The animal was about five feet long and has large front flippers that it uses to move about the beach and create the initial pit, while it uses its back flippers to dig the deeper hole for the eggs, and we watched while it completed the hole, laid its eggs and then covered them up, a process that took until nearly 11:00 pm. It then move back into the sea and disappeared. This was a very memorable experience - these animals come from as far away as Australia.

Later we hiked part of the way to Paria along the north coast l (there is no road for about 25 miles). The trails in Trinidad were made for shifting cocoa crops to the processing stations. However little or no cocoa is grown now and all the chocolate is imported.

We are now heading for Charlotteville at the east end of Tobago, but will first take the 5 pm ferry from POS to Scarborough, Tobago.

We are sorry to hear that Claire is in hospital and hope she will improve.

Back to Georgetown (with very little sleep)

[s]
We got the bus from Iwokrama, which is supposed to leave at 15:00. It arrived at 17:00 and then went to the ferry which was just departing for the opposite bank. After a long wait the ferry returned and the bus and a couple of 4x4's were loaded and the ferry set off. However another truck then arrived so the ferry returned t0 pick this up and we then crossed, a relatively slow and smelly (diesel fumes) process. It was pouring with rain and all passengers were meant to get out while the bus reversed onto the ferry, and during the passage. only Cathy and 2 others did in fact last the voyage outside the bus, returning to the it soaking wet. Originally we had been told that the bus would get to Georgetown at 23:00 (11:00pm). But it became clear that a more likely time was 2:00 am.
The road is heavily potholed and uneven in places so often the bus was going at walking place and lurched about like a boat in a rough sea. Eventually we reached Linden (on the way) at 2:15. After this the roads are tarmacked. However progress seemed slow, with some passengers getting off, (in the case of a young woman we waited till her family came to pick her up!) and we finally arrived at 4:15 and then had to get a taxi to the hotel. This made the total time 12 hours. I did not sleep on the bus though Cathy amazingly managed to.
Still we have made it back in time for the flight to Trinidad early tomorrow morning, and were able to see the ethnographic museum this morning - sketchy details of the various Amerind tribes, which were very interesting, having met so many from at least three tribes at the resorts we have visited, where they are hosts. rangers, drivers, boatmen, cooks and waitresses. This evening we went back to the Botanic Gardens to watch birds - it is one of the best birdwatching sites in the coastal area. We saw a tree with hundreds of Great egrets roosting in it.

The Interior of Guyana

[s]
Here in the interior of Guyana, there is no mobile coverage, no landline and only one road which is not surfaced. Near here in the Iwokrama forest there is a crossing of the Esquibo river using a ferry than runs once an hour during the day. This is on the main road between Georgetown and Brazil. We are expecting to take the bus back to Georgetown tomorrow, but are waiting to hear if it it necessary to leave today (there is some suggestion the bus will not run tomorrow). Yesterday the bus was late due to heavy rain and the peope in the room next to us (who took the bus here from Georgetown) said that it took 12 hours to get here, mainly due to scheduled and unscheduled stops includng customs and immigration checks - there are no border crossings, but smuggling is a problem here.
The river could be a highway but there are lots of rapids and a profusion of rocks and sandbanks during the dry season especially. During the rainy season, the level rises and some of the rapids become more passable.
Because there is no phone communications, only VHF radio, sorting out problems can be hard. For example, the bus does not always run, which is why there is some uncertanty about our travel plan. We are not getting a quick answer. Another example: when we stayed at the Lodge on the river, their generator broke - they ordered spares but they failed to turn up so that the boat was left waiting for the man who had gone to collect the spare part consignment from the bus (which failed to appear). Apparently the bus quite often breaks down. You have to get out of the bus when there is a steep hill and on the ferry even if it is raining.
There is internet here provided by satellite, but it is a bit slow and yesterday after doing a long blog entry, there was a heavy rainstorm. The connection was down for about 45 minutes until the storm cloud had passed.
The government is installing a fibre optic connection and we saw it being laid but it is not working yet. I assume this will provide landline and faster internet.
The power here is by solar cells with a battery system but there is a generator. However the generator does not run all day, and yesterday, when the connection failed, I began to think the power might go off (it does sometimes go off in the evening before the generator is turned on). However, this place is better than many lodges we have stayed in because there is power in the evening (so that you can read etc) and the internet is usually OK.
The main staple food here is cassava or manioc, which is a root, a foot or two in length. It may need grating and washing as when it grows in poor soil, it contains prussic acid (which is very poisonous) but this can be removed by washing grated cassava. Cathy is eating quite a lot of cassava products as it is gluten free.There are also yams and maize. I suppose people keep chickens, but I noticed at the airport that eggs were being flown in large quantities.
We met a lady who was a peace corps volunteer here who sad that she had not been able to get food reliably where she was posted - sometimes meat and chicken was offered but she did not always find out before it ran out. She had previouisly done two years with the peace corps, but was finding this assignment hard, as she was not getting enough to eat.

Some wildlife encounters

After Kaiteuir falls (see the pictures below),

we returned to Georgetown, where we arranged a 10-day trip into the interior of Guyana with a specialist tour agency.
We set off by an internal flight which was itself quite an experience as the aircraft are small. We sat behind the pilot and could see the runway ahead as we took off as well as the navigational instruments such as the altimeter.

The planes use dirt runways in the bush:

We went over some coastal plains which is where most people live and most of the crops are grown, and then flew most of the time over continuous forest.

We flew to a place called Annai where there is a kind of 'Lodge' or hotel called 'Rock View' which is set between the Savannah and the start of the forest on a range of small hills. This is quite a dry area, and has a different set of flora and fauna to areas further north.
Here is a view of the Savannah:

We went for a walk in the forest (up a small hill) first and saw some interesting birds and had wonderful views over the plains below. We then went back for a relaxing day at the Lodge, where we swam in a small swimming pool both morning and afternoon, and expored the grounds, looking for birds and lizards the rest of the time. Later we went for a walk in the Savannah with Hendrix, the bird guide and saw some birds that Cathy was very enthusiastic about called thick-knees ( a bit like English stone-curlews). We could see the Amerind Village with its circular thatched meeting place (most of the houses have concrete and corrugated iron roofs).

Rock View seems to have been a developement of a cattle ranch by someone who had come to work here (I think on the road - see below) and then settled locally. He was away, but his oldest son seemed to be mainly running the establishment. It has grounds with large trees, a cashew farm and a vegetable garden which was very good for birds. During our stay we saw a large iguana which had fallen out of a tree (they tend to live in trees).

We saw quite a few birds there, including a fork-tailed flycatcher by the swimming pool.

After two days here, we headed for another lodge accessed by river. On the way we stopped with Hendrix and walked along the road for a mile or so at a spot where there are some small lakes to bird-watch. When we reached the Ginep Landing on the Rupununi River we were met by Kenneth the bird guide from Karanambu Lodge and another boatman, and had our first enjoyable river trip in Guyana. The day was sunny, with a breeze; the river was fairly low with sandy sides rising above us, covered with trees and bushes, with savannah behind, Kenneth called out the names of the birds as we passed (13 of them completely new to us, including the Jabiru, a huge stork like bird - the largest in South America, I think). And when we arrived a young man was fishing from a boat with a giant offer swimming alongside.

The lodge on the river is called Karinambu and was originally set up as a centre to rehabilitare giant otters. It had two at the time we were there and though they are normally in their very comfortable enclosure, we could see them swimming as we did when we arrived or when we were in our cabin, being taken for a swim. They do bite and we were warned to keep a safe distance - one of the staff showed us her scars!

We went on a number of river trips and treks here and saw a lot of birds and other wildlife. We were taken to see the giant anteater (picture above) that roams the Savannah, where it feeds on termites that it scoops up with a long sticky tounge. It is a most peculiar animal, and has a kind of rolling gait. They are capable of putting up a fight if attacked using the claws used to rip into termite mounds which are made of a kind of termite cement and are thus quite hard.

We saw a fish in one of the nearby lakes called an Arapaima. This can be up to 3 metres long. It is now protected as it is good to eat. It is an air-breathing fish whch enables it to live in water that is low in oxegen. The parent fish look after their small fry. The guide showed us a patch of water that was turbulent, and then we saw the mouths of the small fish emerging to get air. This happend every so often. The guide said that the adult would also emerge occasionally, to breath and to frighten off predators. We could see a kingfisher trying to swoop on the fry and each time abandoning the attempt. Shortly we saw why the attempts were abandoned when the huge parent fish (the male we were told) lunged up and partially emerged (which scared away the kingfisher). There is a head of an Aripaima here in the Iwokrama Lodge and it is about 25 cm wide.

We saw a bird lekking here called the capuchinbird. This bird looks most extraordinary when it displays, puffing up its feathers in a ruff round its ears and producing two bright orange kiss curls from its rump!
After Karimba we went further towards the north to stay at Surama EcoLodge, which is built and run by an Amerindian village, for one night. The transfer was first by river and then by road. The road is the (only) road from Georgetown to Brazil, it is not surfaced, and is full of potholes. The traffic is very light and one morning when we birdwatched on the road only one car past during 90 minutes.

Unfortunately I was ill during the afternoon at Surama and this limited what we did for the day of arrival and the subsequent day. Cathy enjoyed being canooed down a small river where there were lots of birds, but sadly the young guide was less good than Kenneth, and lots of bird sightings were not identified. She also went on a nocturnal walk, but saw little excepting spiders. However we went the next day (as I was feelng better but not 100%) on a shorter trip than the one originally planned. The revised trip was to see a Harpy eagle nest which involved a one hour trek into the forest but we were rewarded by a fine view of a harpy eagle chick in its nest (which is at the top of a Brazilian Cedar, a huge tall tree).

We then spend a day at the Atta Lodge where we went on a canopy walkway - an elevated walk through the forest. However this was a bit of a disapointment as there was less to see than when we went onto the road the next morning. But you appreciate how tall the trees are when you are so high up and they still tower above.

After this we were taken to the place we are at now, Irokama River Lodge (on the river Esqueibo). On the way we saw a Jaguar, which eventually turned off into the forest where I was able to get a picture of it. This was thanks to the driver who saw it as he taxied slowly along. Everone was very pleased to see it as this is the most sought-after sighting. In total we saw the Jaguar for about 25 minutes. We should be in Georgetown by Wednesday for the flight to Trinidad, so hopefully there will be further updates then.

Don't go near the edge

[S]We are just back from two days at the Kaieteur Falls,a high-volume waterfall on the Potaro River. The drop is about 750 feet, and at the time we were there, there was a lot of water flowing over. The Gorge into which the water falls is surrounded by sheer cliffs and you can walk right to the edge, though there are notices asking you to stay 8 feet frm the edge (because of the 750 foot drop). The spray and patterns of water from the falls are very spectacular.
Swifts nest on a cave behind the wall of water and they fly behind occasionally, and in the evening flock spectacularly overhead and swirl, like the starlings over Brighton beach, before disappearing behind the water in large groups to roost. We could not reach the bottom of the falls (it is totally inaccessible except to climbers with long ropes) but we did some bird and frog watching is the surrounding area. There is a bird there called 'Cock of the Rock' because it makes a nest on rocks, and the male is bright orange. We saw the male bird several times and caught a glimpse of the brown-coloured female whcih is much harder to see.
The area has many large Bromeliads. In the water that collects between the leaves, tiny frogs live (as well as hairy spiders, tiny pink crabs and some sort of beetle. The tiny frogs have a call rather like a ringtone. They are notable as the source of poison for amerindians' blowpipe darts - they contain curare, whch paralises muscles in mammals. The male is golden colour, but is rather shy and hard to glimpse but we did see them as well as the drab brown female.

To get to the falls we took a light aircraft - the outward journey was in a 13-seater, but many seats had been removed for freight (much of it food for the Amerindian village nearby). It was quite fun although a bit scary in a way and we were sitting directly behihnd the pilot.

Comming back the aircraft was even smaller, and we did find on both flights that the noise level made conversation impossible. However we had a spledid view of the forest and the mountains around the waterfall as well as a view of the falls themselves from the air. We passed mining sites where gold and diamonds are found. it is open cast mining and the gold and white sand with pools of water where they pan for the gold made a sharp contrast with the green of the surrounding forests. We crossed mile after mile of rainforest which makes up to 90% of Guyana - stunning to see so many trees and to think of the undisturbed wildlife which flourishes there.

Tomorrow we take another plane back into the interior where we will spend 10 days at various nature reserves.