enough time to venture into Stabroek market and peruse the fresh produce to experience city food culture . Perched on the street curb , face in my 6th passion fruit , I was drawing local amusement as I scouted furiously for my 7th , 8th and 9th . It ’ s passion fruit , not moderation fruit , I had no regrets . At least not until I found myself being weighed for our 8-person flight into the amazon . Good thing I didn ’ t find the mangos !
Flying over the amazon is quite an experience . The mass expanse of tiny ‘ broccoli ’ s ’ and robust waterways demanding passage through the dense vegetation . I was witnessing National Geographic imagery first hand . Then , out of nowhere , our plane fell out of the sky to land on a muddy runway fully concealed by jungle until the last moment . We were finally here , the amazon , Iwokrama Rainforest . Over the next few days we would see South America ’ s deadliest snake , the Fer De Lance and a host of Amazon Tree Boas much to our guide ’ s discomfort .
John , our supervision , was terrified of snakes as are the majority of locals in the interior . Despite a real unwillingness to bite , camouflage fit for the SAS makes snakes very easy to step on and represent a real threat to life for local communities . I remember John asking me several times , “ you actually want to search for snakes ?” and his look of terror as my jubilant smile returned an excited confirmation . On Day 3 we stumbled across a Fer de Lance with John . It was fascinating to see his initial fear transform as the snake calmly accepted our presence . In fact , fear transformed into fascination quite quickly . I like to think
64 | TOURISM GUYANA 2022 my gentle encouragement informed a new perception with the potential to mitigate conflict as I type this article in a warm Cornish pub .
Moving South West in an old 4x4 down the long Lethem road , a number of other ‘ must stops ’ spring to mind , Surama , Yupukari and Wichibai in the Savannah lands . It still amazes me how Guyana can turn from deep jungle , to open flood-planes and dry Savannah in a matter of a few hundred miles . All the while maintaining the same currency , El Dorado 5 Year Old . The local rum acting as the real exchange for favours and produce alike . A well-placed bottle of this ruby red elixir found us several more guides to support late night snake walks and caiman boat rides by torch light . By the time we made it to Wichibai , we were rich with experience , full of rum but surprisingly poor in terms of snake sightings . Even when looking it ’ s hard to find snakes in rainy season ! So , returning from a dusk walk across the savannah , I made the decision to head back into the jungle . A flight back to Surama for a date with my hammock , new team and fishing rod in search of green anaconda .
One Brit , a German and two Guyanese chaps walk into the jungle . The German was called Thomas , an IT technician by day and photographer by night . Harry ‘ the Jaguar ’ and Damien ‘ the hunter ’ representing Surama village as our guides for the fortnight adventure . Needless to say , I ’ ve never heard cooler nicknames and they both had my respect from day 1 . Harry was an experienced jungle man , who ’ d forgotten more about river navigation than I ’ ll ever know and Damien had biceps that made tree trunks shake to their roots . Together we were a formidable team that bonded over hard work and red bellied piranha for lunch . The only thing that tore us apart were snakes . Half of the group excited and the other terrified , until the we stumbled across the mighty anaconda . A snake known for defensive attributes , Harry and Damien appeared shocked as I held it relaxed in my hands . Reading its behavior and moving slowly , I was able to form a relationship with a snake that transcended local perception . That night we drank our iodine riddled water and celebrated our friendship as we toasted the end of a magical time under the canopy .
I came to Guyana in search of snakes but left with something more . Often adventure is formed around tangible objectives , a summit , target species or unknown land . Guyana has all of these to offer , but it ’ s the people who live in this fascinating slice of paradise that really provide the cherry on the cake .
Dry humour , strong rum and plenty of cassava - Guyana has a portion of my heart and no doubt , will grab yours too .’