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Other entries in Guyana

A Wonderful nature retreat

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday October 22 to 24

Had another eventful (code for rough, crowded, hot and bumpy) ride to our next destination. We are going to Iwokrama reserve. Our first stop is an overnight stay in the field station where we slept in hammocks again. As we are all sleeping in the same area, it is a challenge to sleep near non-snoring males and females. I have learnt that snoring is not unique to males. I strategically choose to sleep at one or the other end in these communal sleeping times. I can go to bed early, have, on a worst case scenario, only a snorer on one side and rest almost completely. And unlike others, I can be up and be at the breakfast table in less than 10 minutes, some folks need 30 minutes or more.

The highlight is to spend several hours in a Canopy Walkway. The walkway is a Canadian made suspended pathway that is at the top of the trees. The top of the trees is the canopy where the birds and monkeys live. Suspended from the trees are a series of pathways so you can see over the top of the forest. The jungle has several ecosystems going on at the same time. At the tree tops, birds and monkeys live. At the bottom, de-composing leaves, bugs and plants that need little light flourish. The trees drop their leaves which creates compost and food for the bugs which break it down to soil. The soil, surprisingly, is very thin (less than 6 inches). The rains fall and the trees and the vines suck it up. The vines feed off of bird droppings. At ground level it is somewhat dark, and does get darker there much earlier than at the tree tops. From ground level you can only imagine what the birds and other species are doing. It was nice to be at the top. Unfortunately, the birds had taken the afternoon/evening and next morning off. It was rewarding to get the birds eye-view none the less.

This trip is billed as a bird watcher trip. At least one and likely three or four of my mates are twitchers. Twitchers is a British term for bird watchers. They are so called, because when they wait and watch for special birds they get all excited and start to twitch. Twitchers are a special breed of people, very peaceful and calm; they get excited about birds and want to know the name of each of the birds they see (and there are thousands of different ones, more or less like the phone book where each family name is a different species). They, however, don’t know or talk about unique mating or life style matters of the birds; that was my interest and specialty when it came to mammals. To the untrained eye, birds look pretty much the same, but if you look closely there are subtle differences between the species (a little more or less of one colour and they have a new name). Whatever gets you thru the night as John Lennon would say.

Spent the next two nights in the Iwokrama lodge. We were there earlier when we had the car troubles getting to Surama. The lodge is a beautiful site with modern huts, a large training centre and lawns. The concept behind Iwokrama is that the government of Guyana set up a trust and donated 1 million acres (an area about 40 miles by 40 miles (56 K) square) with the intent that the trust manage and develop the site into a sustainable ecological reserve. The reserve must pay its own bills, train the youth in ecology and figure out ways to manage and harvest the trees in a sustainable way. Countries from around the world (Canada included) have provided funding to make this project work. The ideas of sustainable development, tourism and the involvement of the local indigenous people in this partnership is a learning process which is starting to take hold. Many developing countries are watching to see how this project works and then try it locally. The special challenge is to incorporate the indigenous people into the solution.

Went for a night river cruise looking for caiman (a type of crocodile, saw literally hundreds of them in the Panttanal in Brazil in July). Using spot light the guides shined them on the shore line looking for a red reflection (being the eyes of the animal, like red eye in photography). Found a few and one bird, so much for a night out.

What I am learning is that sometimes traveling is like work, you just have to do it. When I travel now, it is like going to the job site (at about 7 AM) and doing whatever is there, and when things are going less well, just accept it like a not so great day at the office. Nice thing about this job is that every day is different, but the challenge is the same, just go out and do it, whatever it is. If the guide eats a bug, eat one also; if there is a river and it is hot, swim in it; if there is an optional hike, do it. The neatest thing about travel and what I love the most is the total nowness of it, your are in the moment if you want to be there, and each moment is new. For most of my mates, their travels are a holiday so they want to relax and chill out (and they can take their laundry home for washing), so they are reasonably less active (they have a real job after all).

Learning a bit about Brits and older men. They love puns and ribbing each other. It is a never ending series of jokes and counter jokes – poking at each other with no ill intent (but they never stop). I was curious to see what older men (and women) look like and do; this is an excellent object lesson in what I could become like if I did not manage myself. The older men can be moody, have strange patterns to their day, determined to stay the way they are, less adventurous and testy. My mates are a fine group of folks, but I need more stimulation and roughness/realness to stay alert and on my game.

For the record, I am covered with bites, mostly from ants as they are everywhere. My legs are covered with scabs, as I am a scratchier (despite what wise guidance I was given as a child, scratching does feel good and makes it better).

Iwokrama is not on the Demerara River, but this river is the major river in Guyana. You may remember there is demerara brown sugar and demerara rum. Both these goods got their origin in Guyana. Guyana still makes the rum but stopped growing sugar soon after slavery was outlawed in the 1830’s. In those earlier times, both Surinam and Guyana had large sugar plantations which used slaves to do the work. Once slavery was outlawed (1830 in Guyana, 1860’s in Surinam), the plantations imported East Indians (from India) as indentured labourers. The workers were on a 2 year contract and free to go after the second year. This explains why the Caribbean is full of East Indians - they came in the 1800’s, stayed, saved money and became the business persons and leaders in these areas. The blacks are the freed slaves, who did not make the investment and effort to become business leaders. Even in Trinidad, the East Indians are the prosperous class.

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