Guyana Wildlife and Adventure Journey

Arrive at Cheddi Jagan International Airport and transfer to Georgetown, Guyana's seaside capital. Settle in for the night at a historic wooden lodge from the 1840s that carries the nostalgia of a bygone era before your journey into the wild interior begins.

Spend the day exploring Georgetown by combining both driving and walking. Visit the National Museum and the Walter Roth Museum of Anthropology, and notable landmarks such as City Hall, Stabroek Market, and St. George's Cathedral, which is one of the world's tallest free-standing wooden buildings. Visit the Botanical Gardens and pause at a pond to help feed the endangered West Indian manatees. Overnight at your heritage lodge.

Fly over the Demerara and Essequibo Rivers and hundreds of miles of unbroken rainforest to Kaieteur Falls, the world's tallest single-drop waterfall, where the Potaro River plunges 741 ft (226 m), about five times the height of Niagara. Take in the thundering falls and their micro-world of giant tank bromeliads, tiny golden frogs, and the swifts that nest behind the water, before flying back to Georgetown for the night.

Fly over the rainforest to the Fair View airstrip and transfer to a riverside lodge overlooking the Essequibo, in the heart of the million-acre Iwokrama forest, a protected wilderness on the Guiana Shield and homeland of the Makushi people. Explore the lodge trails with an Iwokrama ranger, watching for toucans, cotingas, and monkeys among the countless bird species here. After dark, head out on the river in search of caiman eyeshine and night birds. Overnight at the riverside lodge

Make an early start on the Essequibo, circling Indian House Island before breakfast. Later, set off by boat to hike Turtle Mountain, a trail that climbs to a summit at 935 ft (360 m) with sweeping views over the canopy and chances of seeing spider and howler monkeys, bellbirds, and eagles; a gentler boat trip to Stanley Lake for otters and caimans is offered as an alternative. As the afternoon cools, travel to Kurupukari Falls to see the Amerindian petroglyphs, water levels permitting. Overnight at the riverside lodge.

Travel by 4x4 along the forest road, one of Guyana's best places to glimpse the elusive jaguar, watching the forest edge for agouti, tapir, tayra, and black curassow. The journey ends at a comfortable rainforest lodge beside the Iwokrama Canopy Walkway, whose suspension bridges lead to platforms more than 30 m (98 ft) above the forest floor for eye-level views of canopy wildlife. Watch the clearing for the Crimson Fruitcrow and a resident family of black curassows, and for the hummingbirds drawn to the lodge gardens. Overnight at the rainforest lodge.

Before dawn, return to the canopy walkway to birdwatch from the treetops, where toucanets, cotingas, and a host of canopy specialists may appear, along with red howler and black spider monkeys. Spend the day on the surrounding trails, home to stunning insects, noisy amphibians, and playful primates, with deer, tapir, and agouti regular visitors to the lodge. As darkness falls, a night walk may turn up the white-winged potoo or one of the cats found along the nearby road. Overnight at the rainforest lodge.

Welcome the dawn chorus from the canopy, then set off through the forest to Corkwood, where a short trail offers a chance to see the brilliant Guianan cock-of-the-rock, and on to a garden lodge for lunch. In the afternoon, board a boat for the journey of roughly 50 miles (80 km) down the Rupununi and Rewa Rivers, passing locals fishing and bathing, to the remote village of Rewa, home to Macushi, Wapishana, and Patamona families. 

The community built and runs its own eco-lodge on the riverbank. Before dark, slip across to a hidden oxbow lake for close views of the Victoria amazonica, the world's largest waterlily and Guyana's national flower. Overnight at the Rewa eco-lodge.

After a riverside breakfast, head out by boat and climb Awarmie Mountain, a steep but manageable hike with fine chances of black spider monkeys, white bellbirds, macaws, and hawk-eagles, rewarded at the top with sweeping views across undisturbed forest to distant mountains. 

Return for lunch, then travel up the Rewa River and hike to Grass Pond, a beautiful lake set with giant waterlilies and home to one of Guyana's densest populations of arapaima, the largest scaled freshwater fish in the world. As dusk settles, watch the Victoria amazonica flowers open. Overnight at the Rewa eco-lodge.

This morning, travel by boat to a trail that leads through rainforest into savannah, passing traditional farms where a family may be at work using indigenous methods. In the afternoon, head up the Rewa River to Seawall, a rock formation and fine fishing spot near the sandbanks where river turtles lay their eggs, and watch the banks for red howler, squirrel, and capuchin monkeys. A short hike into the forest offers the chance to see the Goliath bird-eating spider, the largest spider in the world by mass. Overnight at the Rewa eco-lodge.

Leave Rewa by boat down the Rupununi River, watching for giant otters, to Kwatamang Landing, then continue to a former cattle ranch turned lodge on the Rupununi. Set among wetlands and grassland, this is giant otter country, with several family groups living along the river. 

Late in the day, head out again by boat to look for otters, and as dusk falls, the giant water lilies on the ponds spotlight the black caiman on the way back. Overnight at the Rupununi lodge, in traditional clay-brick cabins.

Make an early start for the rolling grasslands, home to a population of giant anteaters, where with luck you'll find one of these animals digging its breakfast from a termite mound. In the evening, choose a river excursion or explore the gallery forest for birds like the striking agami heron, with a walk along the airstrip turning up nightjars after dark. Overnight at the Rupununi lodge.

There is time to search the savannah once more for anteaters or explore the Rupununi River for giant otters, black caiman, and the giant arapaima before transferring upriver to the Amerindian village of Yupukari and a field station focused on river conservation. Here you can join the indigenous crew after dark as they search for and capture black caiman, the largest member of the alligator family, assisting with weighing, measuring, and tagging before the animals are released. Overnight at the field station.

Start the morning paddling the quiet Awariku Lake for egrets, ibis, and the chance of giant otters and caiman, drifting out onto the Rupununi River before returning. Then transfer by vehicle to Lethem and fly back to Georgetown, where you settle in for your final night at your colonial-era lodge in the city.

Your last day is free to relax, explore Georgetown, or add an optional tour such as a Mahaica River trip in search of the hoatzin, Guyana's national bird, before your transfer to the airport for your departing flight.