|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Brazil Upside Potentials
Under Consideration by Guyana |
|
| Hydropower:
Guyana has a hydropower potential of 7000 megawatts (MW)
and the largest single site in the Upper Mazaruni
has a potential of 3000 MW, MR. Hinds said. However,
with Guyana’s grid demand peaking at only 80 MW, and even
though it has doubled over the last dozen years,
hydropower development in the country would likely
require export to Brazil.
Free Trade Zone in Lethem
Allowing Guyana, CARICOM, Brazil and other countries in
South America to invest in that area. Lethem is expected
to become a major commercial centre through
cross-border trade, good potential for agriculture and
agro-based activities and road and air linkages to
Georgetown.
Deep Water
Harbor: The Guyana-Brazil road is linked to the proposed
deep water harbour on the Berbice River, which the two
countries are working on to give Brazil easier access to markets
in Europe and the Caribbean.
Agricultural
Integration:
Brazil is the number one global producer of five major
export products, including coffee and orange juice. It
is also the number two producer of soybeans and kidney
beans, and a major producer of corn and cocoa.
Market-friendly economic policies and advances in
agronomy have brought formerly unusable tropical
lands into production and increased productivity levels
beyond those in the United States and Europe,
challenging their traditional dominance of the global
farm trade. This success would potentially transfer to
Guyana's untapped lands as well.
|
|
|
Lethem
(pop. 7,000), lies on the
Takutu River, which forms the border with
Brazil, opposite the Brazilian town of Bonfim. Lethem is
the main commercial centre
of the Guyanese
Rupununi savannah, where there are many vaqueros, or cowboys, and
ranches. The area's other economic activities are plant and
mineral extraction, and tourism.
The indigenous population
is comprised mainly of Makushi and Wapishana tribes.
Lethem is the largest town and the administrative centre of the Rupununi
Region, or Region 9, and includes a hospital, a police station, an army
camp, a telecommunication station, schools, guesthouses, restaurants and
stores.
The Rupununi Savannah is divided into north and south by
the Kanuku Mountains. Visitors can stay at cattle ranches here, and
locals provide guided walks across the savannah and up into the hills.
it is best to use tour operators when traveling
into the interior. Overland camping treks to the falls,
horse riding and hiking in the Rupununi, and whitewater
rafting are just a few options.
Rupununi Savana For going on a
"safari" in the Rupununi Savana on your own, you
can rent a bike at Don&Shirley's Airport shop
for approx. $5 US a day (but not during the wet
season).
St Ignatius: built around
a Jesuit mission, the nearby centre supports traditional Amerindian
craft work.
Visit
Kaieteur Falls: See Roriama Airlines at the
airport
Mt Roraima:
Guyana’s highest point, on the boundaries with Venezuela and
Brazil. It is the most famous of the table top mountains of the
Guyana highlands. With sheer cliffs rising 9,094 feet from the
surrounding savannah, it is rarely climbed from the Brazilian or
Guyana sides. Its ascent is a major attraction on the border of
Venezuela.
|
GETTING THERE:
 |
|
|
(LTM) Lethem Airport, GY |
Airport: Lethem has an airport (IATA
Code: LTM) that connects it to
the capital,
Georgetown.
Note that Roraima
Airways has a baggage allowance of 25
lbs. (ca.12kg) including cabin baggage.
Each lb. excess baggage costs approx.
0,50 US$.
The two local Airplane operators are
TransGuyana Airways [transguyana.com ]
and Roraima Airways [roraimaairways.com
]who daily fly between Ogle and Lethem
Airstrip. [OGL-LTM] The Journey between
Ogle and Lethem is approximately two
hours |
bus
service Georgetown-Lethem: it takes
between fourteen to sixteen hours. Stops
along the way include Mabura Hill,
the Kurupukari pontoon crossing,
the Iwokrama Rainforest with its
Canopy Walkway and Annai.
Bus to
Georgetown:
daily bus to Georgetown. The
bus has 48 seats and starts at around
midnight in order to catch first ferry
at the river near Kurupukari at 06:00
AM.
Find the ticket office at the airport in
Lethem. The bus fills up fast with
people, so its best to make a
reservation the day before. After 15
hours you'll reach Georgetown at the
corner of Carlotte & Cummings Street.
Intraserv Bus Company 159
Charlotte Street Georgetown Tel:
226-0605 Fax: 225-1171
For the bus leaving for Lethem |
|
Annual
Events: The International
Rupununi Rodeo
|
There is a happening rodeo every Easter
weekend where you take part in the action by
dressing up
 as a cowboy or cowgirl. Competitions
include bareback riding, and it attracts lots of
Brazilians as both spectators and participants.
The fun kicks off on the Saturday and
continues to Easter Monday, with day time activities like
wild bull riding, horse racing, wild cow milking, wild horse
riding, a female barrel race, steer roping, etc.
The evening programme presents festivities in the form of a
cultural fair with food, games, music and the lively
so-called “Faha” dance, which is a pair dance and is said
to have its origin in the popular Northeast Brazilian
”Forró” dance. |
|
Places to Stay:
Lethem
|
Cacique Guest House
Rooms:
7
Lethem
Tel: 592-772-2083 |
Savannah Inn
Rooms:
13
Lethem, Region # 9
Tel: 592-772-2035 |
|
Kaimbe Lodge Lethem,
Rooms:
4
Contact: Mrs and Mr Foo, Tel:
592-772-2031 |
Takatu Guest House
Rooms: 22
Lethem, Region # 9
Tel: 592-772-2034
or
226-9754
E-mail: morsha_j at hotmail.com |
|
Inland from Lethem
|
http://karanambu.com/
[5 traditional clay brick and thatched
cabins w/ private bath]
Karanambo Ranch Diane McTurk is well known for her
work in rehabilitating orphaned Giant
River Otters to the wild. Since 1927 this
has been the home of the McTurk family
and a working cattle ranch dedicated to
conservation of the Rupununi savannah
ecosystem and preservation of the
traditional way of life of the
indigenous Amerindians who make the area
their home. Rich in the vibrant bird and
animal life inhabiting the area,
Karanambu is a nature lovers paradise
Getting
Here |
Carahaa Landing Camp
Surama -
a hammock camp on the river edge
of Burro Burro River. Guests can also
stay in the village guest house, which
provides simple, comfortable
accommodation with shared facilities and
excellent meals. Common border with the Iwokrama International Centre. Observe
Giant River Otters, Tapir, Tira, Spider
Monkeys and many more species.
|
ROCK VIEW LODGE (rockviewlodge.com)
is close to the Annai
airstrip. The resort offers a taste of
both Guyana and Brazil, with a bilingual
staff and cuisine from both countries.
The North Rupununi
Savannahs at the foothills of the
Pakaraima mountains and the Amerindian
villages of Annai, Woweta, Surama and
Kwatamang are all located nearby, where
you can learn about mankind's ability to
live in harmony with his natural
surroundings.
"Colin Edwards of
Rock View Lodge, has
steadily worked to create an
orderly little demesne in
the gorgeously sparse
savannah, adding to the
original ranch house two
lodges for guests, a large
kitchen and dining-house, a
shady orchard, what is
probably the only
swimming-pool in the
Rupununi, and even a small
zoo of animals
people have brought to Rock
View over the years
|
|
Project
Guyana
The
Quarrie Bird Zone Group, led by
Macushi tour guide Paul Farias, has
completed construction on a small lodge
and camp area located on Eagle Mountain,
so named for the presence of Harpy
Eagles. Help local Amerincian take
control of the ecological destiny of
their country rather than bow down to
the exploitation of animal traders,
miners and loggers currently at liberty
to devastate Guyana's natural heritage.
fosterparrots.com |
Dadanawa Ranch [3
houses with 6 rooms with shared
bathrooms]
World's largest ranch, covering in
excess of 2000 square miles of tropical
savannah, containing about 28,000 head of
cattle. It is located on the Rupununi
River in the South Rupununi Savannahs.
Nature-loving tourists often use
Dadanawa as a base for journeys into the
nearby Kanuku Mountains, looking at
Amerindian paintings and petroglyphs
near the Rupununi River, or observing
the Harpy Eagle in the rainforest. Meals
by the staff are also a highlight, with
dishes with Amerindian and regional
flavour including baked cassava, tasso
and farine.
sbadventures.com/resorts_guide.htm
Getting There: By aircraft or vehicle
only or combination aircraft and vehicle
and vehicle and boat. It takes about 3.5
hours to drive from Lethem, to Dadanawa
in the dry season but is not possible at
other times. |
Caiman House
Field Station
A visit to
Caiman House Field Station
begins at Karanambu, where
you will lunch and have the
opportunity to swim with the
McTurk giant river otters.
Remote and
unspoiled, Rewa River is
excellent for wildlife
viewing, including tapir,
capybara, brocket deer,
peccary, ocelot, jaguar, and
seven of the eight species
of monkeys found in-country.
Giant river otter, black and
spectacled caiman, and giant
river turtles patrol the
waters and bask on the
sandbanks. The fishing in
the Rewa is as good as it
gets.
rupununilearners.org/
ecotourism/lower_rewa.htm
|
|
Rupununi Savannah
|
|
The Rupununi savannahs encompass 5000
square miles of virtually untouched grasslands, swamp lands and rain-forested mountains, and are inhabited by some 15,000 Wapisiana,
Macushi and Wai-Wai Amerindians. The Amazon, Essequibo, and
certain of their tributaries overflow and mix, and many aquatic species
meet, in the floodplain of the Rupununi River
There's many freshwater creeks that are perfect
for swimming. Wild animals abound, but they're retiring and rarely seen.
It is named for the Rupununi River
which courses through the plains just
southeast of the Iwokrama Forest. It includes the Rupununi, Rewa, and
Essequibo Rivers, and many other smaller rivers, creeks and ponds.
These wetlands contain high habitat diversity and support a vast
array of wildlife. The savannahs are bracketed by
the forested Pakaraima Mountains in the north and the rainforests
of the Essequibo River far to the south and east. To the west, the
savannahs roll onwards into Brazil. The savannahs are interlaced with
many smaller rivers and
streams, made visible by the stands of ité (Mauritia flexuosa) palm
trees which grow near watercourses. The Rupununi Savannahs are split in
two by the Kanuku Mountain range, which stretches across the
middle of the region, dividing it into the North Savannahs and the South
Savannahs.
Most of the Macushi
population live in the North Savannahs, while the Wapishana inhabit the
South Savannahs. Additionally, the Rupununi Savannahs are home to a
population of Creole settlers, who live in the small capital town of
Lethem, as well as on the many cattle ranches scattered throughout the
plains. The Dadanawa cattle ranch in the
south savannah is reported to be the largest cattle ranch in the world
and welcomes visitors. Owing to the savanna's remoteness from the rest
of the country, most trade is conducted with Brazil and most people speak
Portuguese.
GETTING THERE: Visitors
need a permit from the Home Affair's Ministry to visit the region. Tour operators can do the paperwork for you, or you can apply several
months in advance to Guyana's Ministry of Home Affairs. |
|
The
ongoing saga of the Georgetown, Guyana/
Boa Vista, Brazil road
|
The road
link from Bon Fin in the Brazilian state
of Roraima to Lethem, the border town in Guyana,
is the only way to the Guyana Coast. This Guyanese-Venezuela
road link, under the aegis of the Integration of Regional
Infrastructure of South America (IIRSA) process, has been the
focus of efforts made by Guyana and a litmus test for
reciprocity for continued investment in the relationship by
Brazil.
 |
The road between the capital of
the Brazilian state of Boa Vista
and Bon Fin has been a
top class highway
since the late nineties. |
| Border
Crossing in 2006 |
The Brasil-Guyana road
initiative was adopted at a summit of South American Presidents
in the Brazilian capital, Brasilia, in August 2000. The IIRSA Executive Steering Committee has approved several
projects, including the Guyana/Brazil road link and a study of a
Guyana road link with Venezuela.
The Linden
to Lethem roadway is
being kept up despite the frequent need for repairs to bridges
and hill slides. The journey will take at least 12 hours in a 4-wheel
drive vehicle. Improvements have been made to many roads in
recent years, and travel during the rainy season is now possible
- although care should still be taken to avoid potholes. Buses
also travel from Boa Vista in Brazil to Lethem, and then onwards to
Georgetown.
This
road was constructed as a section of a
highway connecting Georgetown with
Lethem. In 1968 a bridge was built
across the Demerara River at Linden,
and, in 1974, it was decided that the
route to Lethem would cross the Demerara
River at Linden and go south, along the
watershed of the Demerara and Essequibo
Rivers, through Mabura, to Kurupukari.
From Kurupukari it would run parallel to
the old cattle trail to Annai, and from
Annai it would follow an already
existing road to Lethem.
Border Crossing:
The Takutu River Bridge over the Takutu River is
said to now be under construction and will create a
historic link between the two countries.
A 14-metre wide
bridge across the Takutu River will be built of reinforced
concrete, supported on four piers. It will have pedestrian
walkways on both sides.
Planners expect that Bom Fin will become a major port of entry
into Brazil for Guyanese products and vice versa Lethem for
Brazil products. Bridge construction iinanced by Brazil has
taken longer than expected because of unknown delays, but should
be done by 2007.
|
|
| The Rupununi savannah region usually floods
in the wet season (May - August). |
 |
 |
| |
Orinduik Falls
- The Ireng River on which this fall is located thunders
over steps and terraces of solid Jasper. However, unlike
the mighty Kaieteur, this fall is ideal for swimming and
picnicking.
Potaro River - Begins at the Ayangana Mountain range in
the North Rupununi Savannahs. It extends 140 miles up
the Essequibo River. Located on this river are mainly
water falls. The most notable are the Kaieteur and
Tumatumari. A suspension bridge called Garraway Stream
Bridge, as well as two islands, are also located on the
Potaro River. |
|
Vacqueros
|
| Ranch cowboys are called "Vacqueros", a
mostly local and almost always a barefoot mix of local
Amerindians, who skillfully handle the cattle. Most of these
cattle are nearly wild animals, who rarely encounter people in
the remote and distant spaces they roam. Cowboy boots are rare
and most saddles are hand made. All lassos are plaited by hand
from locally tanned hides in the cool hours of the mornings |
|
Trip Reports
|
"Punto Tres. This is
where Venezuela, Guyana and Brazil meet, a place about eight
kilometres away from camp but less the halfway across the summit
plateau. It would be virtually impossible to find this place on
your own due to the topography so were glad to have Epifanio
along. Along the way we entered the beautiful little canyon of
the Arabopo River. It felt like a place straight out of a fairy
tale. Not far away was El Foso or 'the pit', a deep, dark cavern
with a running stream. [more
inc. fotos at Mount Roraima:An Island Forgotten by Time by
Lindsay Elms]
|
"The best thing is to go first to
Roraima Airways 101 Cummings St. Bourda, Georgetown to check
when they are normally flying from Georgetowns Ogle Airport to
Lethem at the border to Brasil. Normally they fly on Tuesday,
Friday and Sunday. You have to tell them that you want to take
that flight and that you want to stop at Kaieteur Falls. Staying
at the Kaieteur Falls is absolutely no problem. There is
a guest house which costs 6 US$ per night. Bring a hammock (with
mosquito net) or a tent and sleeping bag with you. You can cook
at the guest house. Bring all your food with you, as there is no
official shop there. Water is available, but it is the
rainwater, which is collected, so bring a filter or tablets.
There is no electricity so bring a candle and a torch. The
Entry-Ticket (12 US$ per stay) for Kaieteur National Park and
the fee for using the Guest House (6 US$ per night) at Kaieteur
Falls must be bought in advance in Georgetown at the National
Park Office at the northern
end of Albert St. which is open Mon. to Fri. from 8 am. till 4
Next to the Takatu Guest house
you can surf the Internet at the Amerindian Weaving Society
|
|
Border Disputes
|
|
Venezuela claims the land west of
the Essequibo River as part of Guayana Esequiba. |
|
"It is indeed regrettable that
Suriname as a member of the United Nations, the Organisation of
American States, the Association of Caribbean States, the
Caribbean Community, the Non-Aligned Movement, the Group of 77
and China, the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group, the Treaty
of Amazonian Cooperation and the Organisation of Islamic States
would adopt such an obstructionist stand against Guyana a sister
neighbouring state, who like Suriname, is making every effort to
reduce poverty, create more jobs and raise the standard of
living of their people.
Moreover, for Suriname to
justify the use of force to settle a dispute with its neighbour
and further, to view the forced eviction of the CGX rig as an
act of revenge in light of and in response to the action taken
in 1969 by Guyana in removing a number of civilian and military
personnel occupying that part of the territory of Guyana known
as the New River Triangle is to add insult to injury."
[more
from June 2000 diplomatic address
] |
| |
|
