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The Kaieteur Falls in Guyana
House on stilts on the River Maroni
Police arrest smugglers on the Suriname / French Guiana border
The delapidated buildings of St Laurent du Maroni have a faded charm
Typical street in St Laurent du Maroni
Hundreds of long thin fast pirogues ply there way back and forth across the Maroni between French Guiana and Suriname
The pirogues are almost gondola like
Song bird competitions are even more popular than football. Good song birds can cost as much as a car.
Armadillo, known as Tatu, is a popular dish. Tasting like a cross between rabbit and pork, the meat is delicious
Typical house in Paramaribo, the capital of Suriname
The presidential palace, Paramaribo
The town centre of Paramaribo is full of old wooden Dutch colonial buildings which are now protected as a UN World Heritage Site
.. more colonial buildings in various states of disrepair
The Paramaribo Cathedral is the tallest wooden building in South America
Black water ponds are found in the rainforests, the dark colour of the water coming from the vegetation
This bridge was built 10 years ago. Before it was opened a ship hit it and it collapsed. They haven’t been able to afford to repair it
… instead you have to cross by this primitive ferry – if it’s working
The ferry was broken so those with an urgent need to cross the river were ferried by pirogue instead
… and those with urgent business are ferried back across the river
This guy whiled away the time waiting for the ferry repair by catching piranha with a bamboo rod, a single hook and bread as bait
The broken ferry outboard
… the replacement arrives
… and is manhandled off the back of the truck
Harvesting ripe mangoes for lunch with a long bamboo pole
Meanwhile, the traffic is backing up
At last we board the ferry – 4-hours late
… and cross the river
Picnic lunch provided by Mr Twist
Black water pond
You can see how dark the water is
Mr Twist shows us a matapi in a Maroon settlement
Cashew nuts grow at the bottom of the fruit. They have to be roasted before eating, as raw they are highly poisonous
The matapi is a tube woven from wicker cane and is used to squeeze the cyanide liquid from grated cassava – the prime source of starch. The barrels are used to collect rainwater for drinking
Basic accommodation in the Maroon village
A loo with a view
Amerindian girl with her young sister
Old Dutch colonial buildings in Paramaribo
Synagogue and mosque side by side. Suriname is the ultimate ethnic melting pot with Jews, Muslims, Hindus and Christians living sometimes uncomfortably together.
The splendid mosque in Paramaribo
… and a more austrere Lutheran chapel
Busy and colourful covered market place
a vegetable stall
… we weren’t sure what most of the things were
We bought a matapi each in the market as mementos of our visit
The pirogue taxi stand
Dilapidated house on wash-day
Mina2 at anchor in the Essequibo River, Guyana
These ancient Bedford trucks are still the vehicle of choice for the gold miners to ferry kerosene and supplies to their camps from Bartica
Cows roam free round the streets of Bartica
The miners have no uniform as such !
One of the many packs of stray dogs hanging out in front of “The Gold & Diamond Snackette and Bar”
Roaming cows can create driving hazards in the streets of Bartica
The amount of rubbish in the town is indescribable
Signs outside a hotel/restaurant
The Bartica power station noisily belched out acrid smoke 24 hours of the day
Bartica riverfront
The lovely home of Kit and Gem Nascimento
A monkey in a tree in the garden
A view of Mina2 in the Essequibo River
The rough road out to the airstrip
Our transport into the interior
.. and our “driver”
We were appalled to see the state of the Cessna – the seat belt came away in the DS’s hand!
6’9″ John squeezes in
The cockpit
An aerial view of the Guyanese rain forest
Safely arrived at the Kaieteur Falls airstrip
Approaching the falls which are swathed in mist
The mist lifts to give us a brief glimpse of the falls
At 741 feet – three times higher than Niagara – the Kaieteur Falls is the highest single drop waterfall in the world. We were the only people there
Inspecting a Giant Tank bromeliad
A very rare Golden Frog – spends its entire 8-year life amongst the leaves of the same plant
A distant glimpse of the magnificent Cock-of-the-rock bird
Our cabins at Iwokrama
The DS tests out the snooze bag
View of the river from the balcony
Off on a bird spotting walk
A snake overhangs the river at night
Kermit comes out for a look
Petroglyphs just lie in the river bed. These are 5,000 to 7,000 years old
Spotting giant caimans
An enormous Jabiru stork
… a magnificent sight in flight
Kingfisher perched on a twig looking for lunch
The Iwokrama canopy walk
a view of the rain forest from the canopy
The DS makes her way through the canopy
Jerry – our canopy guide
Walking through the primary rain forest
Scarlet Macaw comes out of its nest hole
A tamed wild bird tries to undo John’s shoe laces
Lunch at the Iwokrama hospitality centre
We had to take a 2-hour boat rip upriver to Karanambu Lodge
Jerry, originally from Balham, was our guide
We saw a fantastic variety of birds as we headed upriver
A tree almost buried under a termite nest
Not a river you want to fall into … the shores were lined with caimans
… including this rare Spectacled caiman
This was one of a number of Osprey that we saw …
… flying off with a tasty morsel in its talons
Lapwing
The locals use dugout canoes
… notwithstanding the patrolling caimans
Karanambu Lodge – Linda last visited here fourty years ago. It hasn’t changed
Our guest house
The canopy above the bed is to prevent the bats poo from falling on you at night
The roof is made from intricately woven palm fronds
Apart from frogs and bats, we also shared our room with this hornets’ nest
We went off to spot some Giant Anteaters. We did see one at a distance but couldn’t get our cameras out quickly enough
A Jabiru stork on its nest with three chicks
Near the house was an inlet covered with these enormous water lilies. The flowers open in the morning and then close up at night
Note the caiman head by the lily flower
Time for a nap
The flight to Georgetown was a lot more civilised than the Cessna flight
An old government builing in Georgetown (the capital of Guyana) with a statue of Queen Victoria outside (her nose had been knocked off)
The windows had boxes outside in which one put blocks of ice as a primitive air-conditioning
You tell the homes and buildings of the Hindu community …
… they all painted in bright pastel colours
