South America - Guyana

[Samuel]
We are now in Georgetown, Guyana. We are booked to go the the Kaieteur Falls next week and prior to this are trying to arrange a short trip to a rain forest area near Georgetown. Later we hope to visit further up-country areas.

There are a lot of birds in the town and we have seen eagles several times plus the usual small birds like Grackle and Kiskadee. We have looked around Georgetown which has several timber buildings dating from the colonial era such as a cathedral and government buildings, as well as a lot of newer timber building. The newest buildings are however mainly concrete. Some of the timber buildings appear abandoned - termite attack may be one reason. In Brasso Secco, much of the floor of the wooden building we were using was being replaced due to termite damage.

On the flight in from Trinidad to Guyana, one could see that the country near the coast was mostly forested, and the forests extent through much of the interior until they give way to Savannah in the far south. So there is plenty of wood. There is also plenty of water with several large rivers including the Demerara which we saw as we arrived.

There are many species of birds to see (so many that Cathy is concerned about how she will manage to cope). There are quite a few mammals too, though many are nocturnal so it remains to be seen how many we will see.