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.