Guyana has been on my wish-list of countries to visit since I first set foot in South America in 1992. Not that Guyanans consider themselves to be part of South America, looking instead to their Caribbean neighbours with whom they share the English language, a love of cricket and that beautiful lilting accent.
The country is nearly the size of Britain, but with a population of only around 800,000, made up primarily of people of Indian/Pakistani origin (>40%), of African origin (30%) and Amerindians (10%). The latter live mostly in the interior and culturally align themselves more with Brazil than with the Caribbean, but the other 90% of the population live mainly in the narrow coastal belt. This area is mostly below sea level, protected by a sea wall and drained by a large number of canals with sluice gates opening into the sea - developed, I presume, by the Dutch who were early colonisers before the British took over. British influence remains in terms of the language, imports of agricultural machinery and the requirement to drive on the left, but otherwise is not really noticeable. The dominant group is clearly the Indian population - and I was lucky to be visiting during the diwali festival, so was able to see their illuminated floats pass by.
I had organised a trip to see 'birds and wildlife' but added on a few days before and after to see the capital, Georgetown. It is a surprisingly pretty town, with some wide, tree-lined avenues that follow the layout of the old sugar estates, with drainage ditches kept reasonably free of mosquitoes by regular treatment. A good proprotion of the old colonial wooden buildings still survive, including the City Hall pictured here and the 44 metre high Anglican cathedral.
As well as familiarising myself with the commoner birds in the botanical gardens, I visited a couple of museums and an art gallery, and went to look for the Umana Yana, a traditional meeting hall built by indigenous Indians in 1972 for a conference, but found it had burnt to the ground about six weeks ago. Very sad, but apparently there are plans to rebuild it. In compensation, however, I got to go up to the top of the Georgetown lighthouse, which I discovered later is only supposed to be open to those with special permission from the government. Unaware of this, I asked the security guard at the entrance to the Ministry of Works car park if I could get to the lighthouse by going through their car park and he said yes. Reaching the lighthouse, I was asked if I had permission to enter, and I pointed to the (car park of) the Ministry and said the guy there had told me to come through this way ... the two staff in the office three quarters of the way up looked surprised to see me but didn't stop me ... and I was in!! So for those who will not be able to secure the necessary permission from the authorities, this is what you will not get to see:
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