Pakaraima Mountains and the Amazon experience - Guyana, South America

From £2094 per person

Tour Code: SUP_LEAP_ Guyana

Guyana – Pakaraima Mountains and the Amazon experience

Imagine visiting a country that only gets 2,000 tourists a year and exploring places hardly anyone has ever seen? The placement is split between three different locations in the Amazon jungle: Rock View Lodge, Surama Village and the Iwokrama Canopy Walkway. These are based at the foot of the Pakaraima Mountains, south of Georgetown and close to Brazil.

Rock View Lodge is a traditional ranch where you will ride out with the local cowboys and help look after their guests. They still harvest cashew nuts and make handicrafts in the traditional manner. It is on the main route between Georgetown, the capital, and Brazil so you get an interesting mix of visitors to have a laugh with.

After this you venture by 4x4 and canoe to live in the Amazon jungle at Iwokrama amongst the Amerindians where there is a jungle walkway allowing you, from a totally fresh perspective, to see above the tree canopy and spot exotic birds and wildlife. You might be lucky and see a jaguar. Here you will help with various jungle conservation initiatives and will need to be up for a challenge as you sleep in hammocks. Lastly you travel up to Surama, a wonderfully vibrant village community on the edge of the jungle.

These communities are virtually unchanged by the modern world allowing you the special privilege of living amongst them and learning about their jungle, animals and plants.

Through this exciting and diverse mix of eco-lodge, conservation and community projects you will experience the many different faces of Guyana. The placement gives three contrasting working and indeed life experiences to broaden your horizons and surpass your expectations.

Projects are sustainable giving long-term benefits to both the community and environment.

helping who?
The Amerindian villages of Surama, Amerindians of Iwokrama and Junior Wildlife Club of Guyana.

helping how?
leap 1: Rock View Eco-Lodge www.rockviewlodge.com
Rock View Lodge is nestled between the Amerindian villages of Annai and Rupertee on the North Rupununi Savannahs where the foothills of the Pakaraima mountain range meet the tropical rainforest of Guyana.
• Improving the lovely gardens and landscaping.
• Improving the housing of some of their orphaned animals such as: tapir, laba and agoutis.
• Developing the nature trail and signage into the foothills of the Pakaraimas.
• Develop different sports such as mountain bike trekking, fishing and maintaining the horse stables.
• Alongside the Amerindians Help develop the trail linking Surama with Rock View.

leap 2: Surama Community Projects www.wilderness-explorers.com/surama_village.htm
The Amerindian community of Surama is located in the heart of Guyana. The village is set in five square miles of savannah, which is ringed by the forest-covered Pakaraima Mountains. Surama’s inhabitants are mainly from the Macushi tribe and still observe many of the traditional practices of their forebears.
• Volunteers assisting and teaching English and sports in the village school.
• Assisting in the medical centre.
• Working with the Junior Wildlife Club helping the Amerindian Tribe with their cassava project.
• Help in the final construction of a new community eco-lodge and establish the gardens, systems and check lists for the daily operations, as well as assisting in the running and servicing of the Lodge.
• Helping guides take guests on nature walks.

leap 3: Conservation Iwokrama Canopy Walkway www.iwokramacanopywalkway.com
The Iwokrama Canopy Walkway is a series of suspension bridges and decks of up to 30 metres in height and 154 metres in length, located in the Iwokrama Forest. It gives visitors a new view of the mid and upper canopy of the forest and allows wildlife to be relatively free from human intrusion. The forest around the walkway contains some important flora and fauna.
• Survey and record local wildlife, flora and fauna and monitor impact on the local wildlife. Including endangered species such as the jaguar, the bullet wood tree, greenheart and the waramaden (endemic to the Iwokrama Forest).
• Help with daily operations of running the jungle camp, e.g. producing wildlife and bird lists.
• Assist the guides in leading tourists on walks through the jungle and on the walkway.

Adventure Travel
Visit Kaieteur Falls – the largest single drop in the world at 741 feet, boat and canoe down the mighty Essequibo River and see the otters at Karanambu Ranch.

Placement Management:
The friendly and professional team from Wilderness Explorers, in tandem with the UK team, will ensure you are extremely well looked after. They will also provide the volunteers with a thorough induction and orientation course covering safety, responsibilities, projects, health, culture, politics, conservation and community issues etc.

Placement Itinerary:
Those opting for a 6-week programme will arrive with those doing the 10-week programme. They will only complete the conservation and community projects and not the eco-tourism phase at Rock View Lodge. 10-week programme: 3 weeks on each phase (i.e. 15 days project work, without a break for weekends, followed by 6 days free to travel after each project phase).

Includes:
Selection and briefing on all aspects of the scheme.
24 hour emergency back-up, management and support by UK team and in-country Placement Manager, with reliable communications and infrastructure. Safety and induction course on arrival.
Airport pick up and transfer to and from the placement
Transport to and from the phases
Food and accommodation throughout
Donation to the project – currently £80 and you choose how this is spent

Not included:
International flights, internal flights (if applicable), visas, travel insurance, medical expenses (reclaimable through travel insurance), soft drinks/beer etc and independent/weekend travel. We are happy to arrange flights through Key Travel, who are well known for offering good value.

Wildlife:
Red howler monkeys, jaguar, spider monkeys, capuchins, mannekins, macaws, toucans, parrots, hawks, tannegers, trogans, puff birds, labaria snakes and butterflies and a huge variety of birds at the Rock View Lodge.

Weather:
Always hot and humid. The wet season is between May and July and although it rains, there is plenty of sunshine.

Group Size and Age:
Maximum of 9 volunteers per departure. Please note this programme has a minimum group size of 2 volunteers. The programme cannot run with less than this. Three months prior to departure if the group size is less than, or drops below this figure, volunteers will be offered an alternative or similar placement, depending on availability and preference. Anyone aged over 18 can participate.

Accommodation and Meals:
Irowkrama: Volunteers will sleep in hammocks in the staff house that have mosquito nets. There are showers and loos.
Rock View: In a staff house with beds, showers and loos.
Surama: Volunteers will sleep in hammocks in the old guest house amongst the community. There are washing facilities.
Volunteers will eat with the other staff and be served good wholesome home cooked food of meat, chicken, eggs, beans, fruit, vegetables and salad. Three meals a day will be provided and served in the camp dining area or a packed lunch if out on location.

Click here to visit the Guyana page at The Leap