Henry in Guyana

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.

We began with a trip to Kaieteur, reputedly one of the world's largest single drop falls and amongst the most powerful, which is one of Guyana's must see attractions. After a flight lasting about an hour we got off and were guided around by a local Amerindian chap. I have never been to Niagara or any other similar attraction but I imagine there are hotels, shops and all kinds of things there - upon arrival we found a small airstrip with a few guys sitting around outside a lodge building that I don't think is quite finished! Of course Niagara must get many hundreds of thousands of visitors if not more in a year and I imagine Kaieteur probably doesn't have more than a few small group in during a week, but it was an entertaining snapshot of Guyana and one of its national treasures.

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.As the day got on I started a fire again and thought about getting some food in. I chopped down a heart of palm tree which has a core at the top which is good to eat, and I roasted 9 Kukrit grubs on my fire, which was very tasty. After this I started gearing up for the night ahead and collecting firewood. I popped into the river for a wash which is when I realised I was covered in bites - it turns out the mosquitos must have found me quite tasty and bit me through my clothes. I later counted over 300 bites on my body! I was already quite miserable and didn't want to face another night of being eaten alive so I got on the radio and got picked up. I then had a glorious night's sleep in my hammock and mozzie net which seemed like a palace in comparison!

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.

I've been here for five weeks now and continue to get a better feel for the country, so here's a few things I've noticed. In terms of vehicles, a favourite seems to be the Nissan Titan which is a (probably unnecessarily) huge car. I have yet to see any Hum-vees but I am told there are a few. There isn't a huge amount of space on some roads so I imagine having an oversized vehicle might be a bit of a challenge.

There's a reasonable amount of wildlife in Georgetown; most roads have trenches running along either side - deep gutters (maybe 2 feet) which once I imagine provided drainage but are now stagnant and have quite a bit of rubbish in them. There are little things swimming around in there, I'm not sure if they are fish or lizard things but there is life. Some parts are covered, with boards or concrete, and sometimes there are just big holes in the pavement, and I don't imagine it would be very nice to fall in. The other night I was walking home from volunteer frisbee and felt my foot come against something followed by a splash in the trench. It turned out I had inadvertently booted a rat into the water - it quickly scrambled out and ran into some bushes. Rats are not generally visible so this was a bit of a surprise, although there are plenty of dogs roaming around looking for food. Fortunately, there's enough around as there are used polystyrene food cartons all around. Many areas are quite messy, and in most areas there aren't any bins. Main Street is an exception - there is a central walkway where local craftsmen sell quite impressive wooden carvings, and there are bins all along and it makes for a nice place to walk in my opinion.

I haven't seen as many insects as I expected, just the occasional tiny lizard thing in the shower and they keep themselves to themselves. Cockroaches are rarely in sight but I'm sure they're here having a good time on bits of food and so on. Fears of a tarantula wandering over the back of the sofa were misplaced however, and at least in Georgetown there isn't any more insect life than anywhere else I have been. I have plans to venture into the bush in the new year where things will be a bit different I imagine, but more on that some other time. The flying insects like to bite, and they haven't given up, I've taken to staying in my work clothes to cover up my skin in the evening as it is a bit of a pain and you can feel them having a meal. In the morning I usually wake up to see four or five mosquitoes sitting above my head on the mosquito net licking their lips, just waiting for the chance...

After the blackout the power came on in the night so I could enjoy a bit of breeze from the fan. However the water supply seemed to have stopped as well - I enjoyed flushing the toilet with a bucket this morning!

The creepy crawlies also have a good time in the tropical heat. There's usually one or two little lizard things around the shower area but they are very shy and not offensive. Things like cereal need to be kept in sealed tupperware as things enjoy that a lot. I had a look at some cereal that had been open but in a cupboard for a few weeks and there were some little flying things in there. Cockroaches are also an occasional problem - I think better now that some of the little holes in the flat have been sealed up. I took this picture of a few chaps who strayed onto some roach paper that had been left for them behind the fridge:

Sorry chaps.