Guyana Birding Tours

ABOUT GUYANA BIRDING

Birding tours to Guyana generally all go to the same destinations. The primary locales are the Botanical Gardens in Georgetown, Iwokrama Forest Reserve, the Rupununi Savanna around Surama and Annai, and the savanna and riverine forest around Karanambu. Some tours visit coastal areas outside Georgetown where several specialty birds are found. A few tours also visit Dadanawa and riverine forest areas near Lethem where several very range-restricted birds can be seen. A very few tours go down the Rio Takatu and a short way along the Rio Ireng to view the near endemic Hoary-throated Spinetail, followed the next day by a drive some distance north from Lethem to see an isolated population of the endangered Sun Parakeet. Finally, river trips down the Rupununi River through a wilderness known as the Kanuku Mountains south of Karanambu usually encounter one or more Jaguars along the river as well as a number of bird species not ordinarily found in more accessible areas.

WHY VISIT GUYANA

Guyana is an exciting and relatively undiscovered birding destination located in northeastern South America. The diverse topography and mixture of rainforest and natural savanna has produced substantial species diversity in Guyana. About 825 species of birds have been recorded. Of those 73 are Guianan Shield endemics found only in Guyana and neighboring Venezuela, Brazil, and Suriname. Many of the remaining species are Amazonian and not found in Ecuador or southern Brazil. Over half the species are not found in Central America, and over 200 are not found in Ecuador.

GUYANA PHOTOS

GENERAL INFORMATION

Guyana, meaning "Land of Rivers", is a relatively unknown country in the US but is more familiar to British and Canadians because it was a former British colony and is still a member of the British Commonwealth. The country is located in northwestern South America and was known as British Guiana until it gained its independence in 1966 and became a republic in 1970. The climate in Guyana is quite tropical, though conditions are slightly cooler on the coast and in the relatively inaccessible mountains on the western border. The primary rainy season is from May-July, with much of the savanna areas flooded through August. A shorter rainy season occurs from December through January, and during that time heavy rains are possible on any day though it doesn't rain every day. The best times to go birding in Guyana are October-November and February-April.

Guyana is an underpopulated country, with a total population of about 800,000. Of those, over 90% live on the coast, especially around the capital city of Georgetown. The interior is populated mainly by Amerindian ethnic groups. The primary language is English, but Creole, Portuguese, and Dutch influences have resulted in several distinctive regional differences in pronunciation and dialect.

The primary industries in Guyana are agriculture, mining, and sugar production. Guyana is also an important producer of excellent rum. Some logging occurs but is being managed in areas such as the Iwokrama Forest Reserve with strict regulations that prevent clear-cutting and minimizing the number of large trees that can be cut. Virtually none of the country except coastal areas has been clear-cut. The Guyama Tourism Authority with financial assistance from USAID and other sources has been actively promoting tourism, particularly birding, in Guyana since 2006. As a result, a number of tour operators have recently begun offering tours to the country. Nevertheless, the tourism industry is still in its infancy, and Guyana remains a last frontier for birders interested in visiting South America.

GUYANA GEOGRAPHY

Guyana has four major geographical regions. The low coastal plain is located along the Atlantic coast. Guyana lacks sandy beaches, with much of the oceanfront being muddy and covered by mangroves. Just inland much of the area is covered by sugar plantations and other cultivated areas. Farther inland is a belt of hilly sand and clay where most of Guyana's mineral wealth is located. The northwest coastal area of Guyana is largely roadless and accessible only by air or boat. This area supports several endemic and range-restricted birds not readily found elsewhere. The northern and eastern regions of the interior are covered with dense lowland rainforest. Scattered gold mines mar the landscape, but for the most part these forests are pristine, largely untouched, and accessible only by river. The most accessible rainforest is in the Iwokrama Forest Reserve. A single dirt road transects the country from Georgetown to Lethem, the only vehicle access to the interior. This road is seasonally flooded and pot-holed after every rainy season until heavy graders smooth it out each dry season. Farther south in the Rupununi watershed much of the terrain is natural savanna and scrub bush intersected by rivers lined with narrow bands of riverine, seasonally flooded forest. The Amerindian villages of Annai and Surama lie in this savanna region, as does the border town of Lethem. To the west towards the Venezuela border lies the Pakaraima Mountains and Guyana's highest peak, Mount Roraima. This region is accessible only by air or expedition trekking and is home to a number of Tepui endemics found only there and in the highlands of neighboring Venezuela and northern Brazil.

Some of the oldest geological formations in the world are found in Guiana and neighboring countries. They are collectively known as the Guianan Shield, and ancient black rock some 1.7 billion years old is sometimes found at the surface. These formations appear as rocky ridges or hillocks in the savana and as uplifted mountains in western Guyana, the latter supporting several amazing waterfalls including the world's highest free-falling waterfall at Kaiteur Falls. The world's largest cattle ranch, Dadanawa, is located south of Lethem and covers an expanse of 1750 sq. miles, half of which is under water during the rainy season. The Guianan Shield rock formations are readily visible in that region.