Travel Travails and Kaieteur Falls

Imagine an eight-hour drive on a bumpy dirt road in a minibus travelling at high speeds. 

Starting at 6:30 in the morning.

Now imagine that you woke up with a migraine.

Yes, the driver did have to pull over at one point.

And that was the beginning of my five-day journey into the rainforest, my first time out of Georgetown, to see Kaieteur Falls.

Kaieteur is called the largest single-drop waterfall in the world and is three times higher than Niagara Falls.  Sound impressive?  It gets even more so when you realize that there are no roads for miles.  The only way to get there is to fly in or hike up the mountain.  Of course, I and a group of other volunteers opted for the hike in order to see as much of Guyana as possible.  This involved a series of vehicles, boats and hikes over three days that culminated in the several hour hike up the mountain to reach Kaieteur Falls.

After the eight-hour drive to Mahdia, a mining town, we took a speedboat for about an hour to reach our first campsite.  Camping in Guyana does not involve tents and sleeping bags, but hammocks and mosquito nets, and I have to say that we are all very proficient now at setting up our own hammocks!  The campsites were short on electricity and running water (unless you count the river), but there’s nothing like falling asleep to the sounds of frogs and the nearby rapids. 

By the third day, we had reached the base of the mountain we would climb to reach the top of Kaieteur Falls.  This was probably my least favourite part of the journey, as anyone who has heard me complain about Ecuador knows that hiking and rainforests are not the best combination for me (it’s the clumsiness).  Of course, I was with a group of very fit, active people who sped away into the forest, leaving me with one of the guides to make my own way up the mountain.  The climb isn’t actually that difficult, however a backpack full of five days of gear makes it a bit more challenging.

As it happens, I didn’t take that much longer than the rest of the group, but by taking my time and going at my own pace, I think I was able to enjoy the experience more.  I was able to listen to my guide tell stories about different parts of the trail and the plants we passed.  We picked some mushrooms and refilled our water bottles from a fresh spring.  I was even the first in the group to see the Cock-of-the-Rock, a bright orange bird found only in Guyana, and the tiny golden frogs that spend their whole lives in a single plant.

By taking my time, I was able to see much more than I would have by rushing through the journey just to reach the destination.

That’s almost a metaphor for life, isn’t it?

If you are ever in Guyana and want an amazing experience, take this trip.  Kaieteur is an amazing sight, almost completely untouched by humans and so different from the tourist trap that is Niagara.  But it is definitely the journey that made the destination worthwhile.

It’s a long drive…

Yep, that’s a bridge we crossed (for a certain definition of bridge…)

Speedboats on the river

Beautiful views

 

 

 

Our lovely hammocks and mosquito nets.

Kaieteur at last!