The first thing the local guides have to address is the tragedy that happened over 40 years ago. It took place in a remote area in the Northwest and certainly is not why I would recommend you go visit Guyana!

I arrived at the Georgetown International Airport late in the day but was fortunately picked up by my tour guide and during the hour drive to the hotel was introduced to the country’s history and its recent status. Guyana was named by the indigenous people living there before the Europeans occupied it, meaning “land of water”.  Settled first by the Dutch then the English and due to the many plantations on its western border the territory brought in both indentured servants from East India and slaves from Africa.  It wasn’t until the 1830’s that slaves were freed and it took another 130 years or so before Guyana became independent. While the country is rich in its natural resources like rain forests, sugar cane, rice and some minerals it is still considered one of the poorest nations in South America.

The next morning I met the 5 others who were joining me for the better part of a week even though we would only be spending about 36 hours in Guyana.  We did a city tour of Georgetown ( a small city of about only 200,000) taking in the usual sites of the city hall, the parliament building, the waterfront, the cathedral, and the National Museum. 

That afternoon we took a small plane along with 5 others to visit Kaieteur Falls, one of the most powerful in the world and twice as high as Victoria Falls or four times as high as Niagara Falls. It is located on the Potaro River in a section of the Amazon rainforest.  

After a few hours touring the park and taking many photos we returned to the city for the night before departing by plane again for our next country: Suriname.