Welcome to the Jungle
Well, I'm back in Georgetown and am in one piece after spending two weeks in the jungle on a survival course, and it was an amazing experience. There were 6 of us on the trip; three Brits, a Dutchman, an Australian and an 18 year old American called Blaze, whose also happened to be good at building big fires. The trip was run by Bushmasters, a British company which runs trips in Guyana, and if you want an adventure I'd recommend having a look as it is extremely well run and you will have no shortage of adventure and Ian, who runs the company, will make sure that whatever happens you do a lot of cool stuff.
The falls themselves were magnificent as expected and we were taken to a number of viewing points and then to the top. One of the nice things is that there are no barriers - you can sit right on the edge, and I did. Also it was quite spectacular to crawl to the edge of a ledge and look right down into the waterfall. All in all it was a great experience; the only downside is that it is quite expensive and quite a lot travel to get to.
After this we headed back to Georgetown to get the bus down to Surama where the real fun was about to start. This time I took the Intraserv bus, a proper coach which is built like a tank to be able to handle the rough road down into the interior. We left at 9pm and had a bumpy and uncomfortable overnight trip, arriving in Surama at around 8am the following day. Surama is a small village of just under 250 people on the road to Lethem with a great Eco-Lodge which serves tourists and I imagine provides a significant income for the village. The Amerindian people seem to live a very good life - with good weather and beautiful landscape they farm cassava, hunt and fish in the forest and live apparently very peaceful lives. If you ever feel like starting a minimal rural life - go and live in an Amerindian village!
We spent one night at the lodge and having collected and prepared all our kit we donned rucksacks and went for about an hour's trek into the bush to the first camp. This consisted of three wooden buildings that were originally built for a TV show and was a good place to start. We stayed there for four days learning how to use a bow an arrow, fish, light fires and generally live in the jungle. We had four Amerindian guides to help us and show us how to do things. Bush related things to them are second nature - they don't seem to ever sweat, some walk around the jungle in flip flops or barefoot and generally find all the jungley stuff easy. Tourists are quite funny to them I think, as they are always chuckling at our inept machete use in our jungle boots and camelbacks. Following this we took a 30km trip by engine boat along the river to the second camp - Rain Camp, where it did in fact rain a great deal and we had to get used to being damp.
The main tool was the machete which we used to chop firewood, build shelters and generally always was at our side. The Kukrit nut contains a small grub which is good for eating and fishing bait but has to be cut out - a number of us (including me) sliced bits of our fingers opening them as they were quite tough. Some of our group were definitely camping outdoors people - sadly I am not really. As a result I tended to take longer than everyone else and be last at most things as I was not so good at the practical stuff - fires, cutting, setting up hammocks and so on.
All of this was gearing up for the final event - two days and two nights in isolation where we are dropped off with only a few things to survive with: bow and arrow, fishing kit, fire kit (cotton wool and striker), iodine (for wounds and water purification) and machete. We also could take in a medkit, emergency radio and camera for those all important self-portraits. Anyway I was dropped off at my area by boat at about 9am (although I had to leave my watch) and set to building my shelter. This was quite a good shelter, I thought, and it took me perhaps about 5 hours to get finished. After this I spent a number of hours getting a fire going as the wood around was generally a bit damp and it took a lot of effort. As we are near the equator it essentially gets dark at 6pm and stays dark until 6am consistently, so as it got dark I settled down in my shelter to sleep for the night. After a while my fire went out and it got a bit chilly, and I could hear a few mosquitos buzzing at my ear. It turned out to be a very cold and uncomfortable night and I didn't get much sleep - but there wasn't anything else to do as it was pitch black outside and I imagine there were a few scurrying creatures I didn't want to meet.
Finally daylight came so I got up but felt pretty bad - 20 hours with no food and poor sleep made life a bit more difficult. I did some fishing and caught some small fish, and tried using them to catch bigger fish but with no luck.
I was quite disappointed not to make the second night, but isolation was much more of a challenge than I thought, and I believe in the past people have come out for all sorts of reasons - some just because they didn't like it. It was quite an interesting personal experience and perhaps showed me that I am, in fact, not indestructible. Handy to know!
The next morning we picked up the other survivors and headed back to the lodge for a hearty meal, real (cold water) shower and to pack up all the kit. We also took a trip into Surama and saw some village animals including a very friendly tapir, followed by some drinks at the lodge and much needed sleep in a real bed. The next day, back on the bus and back to civilization!
It was a truly amazing experience - just to be so deep in the jungle and living in a hammock, washing in the creek and watching the Amerindians at work. Although isolation was miserable, it also made the trip and I am glad I did it - I think everyone got a lot from it. A shame to come out, but at least now the bites are healing! For now, back to Saints for me, and back to their home countries for the others. Needless to say, I hope to return to the jungle again sometime...
A whole bunch more photos here.