FIELD TRIP REPORT - JUNE, 2003

TRIP TO ROCK VIEW LODGE

         


Location: Annai, Region 9 (4° N and 59° W)

Date: June 22 and 29, 2003

Duration: 15:30 - 6:30 hrs June 22 and 11:00 - 12:00 hrs June 29

Weather: Day 1: Fair

Day 2: Very fair

No. persons present: Eight (8)

Ways of Transport: Road and water


INTRODUCTION


In Region 9 (Upper Essequibo-Upper Takutu), Rock View Lodge is nestled between the Amerindian villages of Annai and Rupertee in the North Rupununi Savannahs where the foothills of the Pakaraima mountain range is close to the Rupununi River and meet the tropical rain forest of Guyana, South America. The Iwokrama International Rain Forest Project field station with the famed Canopy Walkway and Atta Rainforest Camp, the fourteen villages of the indigenous Makushi people of the North Rupununi and the Karanambu cattle ranch are all easily accessible from Rock View. A Toyota Hilux pickup, a four-wheel drive Bedford truck, horses, bicycles and boats are available for visitors' transportation needs and activities.


Visitors are accommodated in comfortable, well furnished self-contained suites in the two guest houses. Evenings may be spent with the family and friends in the ranch house with its fine art collection, library and good music or at the Dakota Bar with members of the community. All buildings have electricity and running water from a deep well. The grounds are graciously landscaped with hundreds of palms, fruit and flower trees (and even small pet animals) to enhance the natural beauty of the rolling hills and savannahs. The Panorama Nature Trail, the Rupununi River and wooded mountains are nearby. The Lodge itself may be reached by scheduled air and bus service from Guyana's capital Georgetown and Brazil through Lethem.


The Rock View Lodge was conceived and is managed by Colin Edwards, an Englishman who has been closely associated with Guyana since he came here as an Agricultural Volunteer in 1969. His love for the Guyanese interior, the arts and the people of both Guyana and Brazil may be seen in this unusual Guest House and working farm which is environmentally friendly and has a special relationship with the community development efforts of the Amerindian villages around. The efficient and friendly staff are members of the family as well as neighbours from around Rock View. They are mostly polyglot, speaking a combination of English, Portuguese and the native Makushi languages.


In the Rupununi Savannahs, the Kanuku Mountains divide the North Rupununi Savannahs from the South, while the Rupununi River divides the East Rupununi Savannahs from the West.


The travelling distance from Georgetown to Annai, North Rupununi is 418 km (260 miles).


OBJECTIVES:


RATING OF TRIP


Excellent

Very Good 

Good

Satisfactory

Unsatisfactory