 WHERE? Guyana is an English speaking country in South America. The culture is Caribbean with seemingly no Hispanic influences at all e.g. Guyana is part of the West Indies cricket team. The route we took can be seen on the map but is basically: - Georgetown to Surama via Linden & Kurupukari - Surama - Circuit of the rainforest up the Essequibo river - Back to Surama - Rockview Lodge near Annai - Back to Georgetown with overflight of Kaieteur Waterfall WHEN? Three weeks in August 2007, wet season in Guyana, of which: - first night in Georgetown - next day travelling to Surama - followed by four days in Bushmasters training camp - then nine days in unexplored region of the rainforest - two days back in Bushmaster training camp - one day back at Surama - one day at Rockview Lodge, Annai - final night in Georgetown  Once away from the coast, you are unlikely to get more remote and unspoilt than Guyana's interior. As the map shows there is an average of 0 to 1 person per square mile in the interior, so you can't get much more remote from civilisation than that. As someone philosophically once said - hell is other people (Jean Paul Sartre). The Guyana shield rainforest is one of only four pristine primary rainforests in the world, the other three being the Central Amazon, West Africa (Congo) and Papua New Guinea. So I thought there should be good photo opportunities for both wildlife and landscape. I wanted to see Kaieteur waterfall, and also wanted more than a run-of-the-mill adventure holiday. There is the element of a personal challenge i.e. whether I could stick it out and cope with the conditions. And just doing something you've never done before in a very different environment than you're used to in everyday western urban life. Also these three words - RAW Venture Special - the name of the Bushmasters trip (great emotive marketing buzzwords there, Ian!) Our group mantra was "It's an expedition not a holiday". .jpg)
The group, just before we set out into the jungle. Left to Right - Mark ?, Nick Cornwell, Ally Hoon, David Dakramendjian, Jon Clarke, Daniel Reynolds, Francesca Stone, Amanda Spencer, Andrew Chong. |