February 13, 2014
Heading up from Surama, we entered the realm of the rainforest, a vast, mostly undeveloped area covered in thick vegetation. This area, part of the larger Guiana Shield, remains one of the least developed and most intact rainforests in the world. The main road leading down Guyana is a mere dirt road filled with potholes and mud puddles, surrounded on both sides by the encroaching greenery. Having to get from Surama to Mahdia, we got an early start, and our driver expertly navigated the road, spinning through a few pockets of huge mud puddles along the way. I was really hoping we wouldn't have to get out and push, but Navin did a great job as we sat in the back of the minivan and enjoyed the view, including a few bird spottings (mostly black currasows - a very large upright walking bird and a red-rumped agouti - a cat/dog sized rodent that wanders the underbrush).
Iwokrama is a huge area of protected rainforest in the center of Guyana, so we stopped at the Canopy Tour to get a small taste of the area. According to our guide, due to carbon credits, some countries such as Norway are even paying Guyana to not cut down their trees, basically selling their extra carbon/environmental credits to countries in need of the credits for global compliance purposes. We got a young Brazilian guide, John, and headed into the forest, following the path through the greenery and thick humidity of the early morning. About 30 minutes in, we reached the canopy tour, a series of walkways and platforms suspended high above the forest floor (up to about 100 feet above the floor below). Wandering through the walkways provided some great views from the top level of the forest canopy, but we had to keep moving, so we didn't have long to enjoy the views before heading back to the van and back up the long dirt road.
(A tree boa constrictor was slithering along the path right at the beginning of the trail. These aren't venomous, but I still decided to give it a bit of room as we passed and began our hike.)
(Kristina's bright shirt made her easy to find in the dense greenery...that and the fact that the trail was well-marked and easy to follow.)
(About 30 minutes into the walk, we descended a step hill to get to the first of the canopy platforms.)
(Thick vegetation covers this protected area, as does the never-ending humidity. Fortunately, it was still early morning, so the heat of the day hadn't quite set in.)
(The first of the canopy bridges, shrouded in the top of the trees.)
(The bridges are metal laticework, suspended by strong cables.)
(A view down the massive trunk of one of the trees. Supposedly the special construction of these platforms is movable and still allows the trees to grow unencumbered, but I'm no canopy platform expert, so I can't comment on that. I just like taking pictures.)
(The canopy walkway cost nearly $180,000 USD to build, so we tried to show our appreciation by taking plenty of pictures and admiring the views.)
(As we were there in the morning, the early fog helped create an ethereal feeling amongst the varied flora.)
(More fog, more trees.)
(One of the forks in the trail that we did not explore. I assume that's where all of the animals are. Though rainforests are full of wildlife, the dense foliage makes them very hard to actually spot, in addition to them simply moving away from the trails when they hear obnoxious American tourists coming down the path.)
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