The only English-speaking nation in South America is Guyana, which is about the size of Great Britain’s main Island and was originally known as British Guiana. One of the least inhabited countries in the world, Guyana is estimated to have only 750.000 people. It is hardly surprising that Guyana is a pristine and unexplored travel destination. Over 80% of the nation, which is east of Venezuela and north of Brazil, is still covered in undeveloped tropical rainforest. For individuals who like nature and enjoy exploring the wilder side of life, Guyana is a veritable paradise.
Sir Conan Doyle first saw the enormous Table Mountains in the jungle, where he also had a dinosaur-filled dream about a vanished planet. Sir Walter Raleigh looked for El Dorado, the fabled city of riches, in Guyana. Another famous person from Guyana was Jesse James’ infamous older brother, Frank James, who spent years wandering the country’s savannahs herding cattle.
Guyana is a nation of giants and a realm of tales and legends. Giant otters, jaguars, anacondas, tapirs, black caimans, bushmasters, goliath bird spiders, harpy eagles, arapaima’s, and leatherback turtles are just a few of the huge wildlife species that call Guyana home.
Guyana is not only a fantastic travel destination, but it also provides many special chances for adventure seekers and those who appreciate the natural world. Horseback safaris through the savannahs and jungles, extreme survival trips where you are left to survive in the jungle alone after a week of practical training, cowboy adventures where you live on an old-style ranch and compete in your own rodeo, and expeditions that will push you to the limit by taking you through rivers, caves, endless jungles, mountains, and waterfalls are all available.
Guyana is a fantastic place to volunteer overseas, offering a variety of interesting options with the main objective of preserving the jungle’s ecosystem for the sake of its animals and the Amerindian populations that depend on it for survival. A few of the wildlife projects include protecting turtle nests, studying black caiman in the wild while volunteers help with their capture and release, mapping the borders and points of interest of nearby reserves, looking for poaching activity, and volunteering at a facility for rehabilitating giant otters.
At other initiatives, volunteers collaborate with nearby Amerindian tribes to establish sustainable eco-tourism and assist in giving aid and education to underserved populations. As some of the ranches struggle to cling on to their centuries-old way of life, there are also possibilities to help there. Because they can no longer sell their meat to neighboring Brazil or along the coast of Guyana, where the majority of the people resides, the majority of ranchers are struggling.
Should Guyana genuinely develop its tourism business is an excellent question. What possible benefit can that have? a valid query It’s undoubtedly a good thing that Guyana hasn’t had mass tourist in a while. Unfortunately, Guyana is increasingly being targeted by (illegal) mining, logging, poaching, and pollution. More and more, the question for the people and government of Guyana is: Will we take the valuable hardwood and priceless minerals from its jungle to boost our economy in the short term, or do we continue to promote conservation and maintain Guyana’s Amazon Jungle?
Guyana’s Amazon can only be sustained if the jungle itself gains a long-term, sustainable economic value, which can only be achieved through ethical ecotourism and volunteerism. Guyana is a fantastic location, a hidden world just waiting to be discovered, and it should be on everyone’s travel bucket list. There is so much to lose for Guyana’s wildlife, indigenous cultures, and natural beauty if it remains undiscovered as a holiday destination, but so much more can be done with an increase in responsible for tourism!
