Morning transfer to Ogle Airstrip for a flight across the rainforest to Annai. Lunch will be served at Rock View Lodge before you transfer by 4x4 vehicle to Iwokrama River Lodge. Your afternoon is free to explore the trails around the field station with an Iwokrama Ranger.

Iwokrama is home to many bird species including black nunbird, chestnut-rumped woodcreeper, Amazonian antshrike, Guianan cock-of-the-rock, Guianan toucanet, Guianan red cotinga and many more. After dinner, you will go out on to the river to spot caiman and other nocturnal wildlife. You may see one or another of the four species of caiman, and most certainly snakes and frogs. Overnight at Iwokrama River Lodge.  (B/L/D)

Making an early start you will embark on the Essequibo and circumnavigate Indian House Island giving you the chance for dawn song on the river including five species of tinamou, marbled wood-quail, band-rumped swift, white-banded and black-collared swallows, and Guianan streaked-antwren before returning to the Field Station for breakfast.

After breakfast, you will travel to Turtle Mountain, for a leisurely stroll up the mountain to its summit at 935ft (approx. 360m). It takes an hour to walk up the mountain, but the effort is more than worth it for the breathtaking views over the forest canopy. Enjoy a picnic lunch in the forest (for those who may find the Turtle Mountain trek too strenuous they can take an alternative boat trip to Stanley Lake to search for giant river otters and black caiman or go birding along the trails near the Field Station). On the return trip, visit Kurupukari Falls to see the Amerindian petroglyphs (dependent on the water level). Then visit the small Amerindian village of Fair View before returning to the Field Station. Overnight at Iwokrama River Lodge.  (B/L/D)

At dawn take a wildlife walk with an Iwokrama Ranger close to the Field Station. After breakfast you will transfer by 4x4 vehicles along the trail that is one of the best places to see the elusive Jaguar. The Iwokrama forest is rapidly gaining an international reputation for its healthy jaguar populations that seem not to be troubled by the appearance of curious humans. There is also a good chance to see red-rumped agouti, turtles and black curassow along the road edge, and maybe even a tayra.

The journey ends at the Iwokrama Canopy Walkway which allows you to view the forest from 35m up in the canopy. Experience the activity in the mid and upper canopy of the forest and see darkness settle over the forest. From this tree top vantage you can sometimes see red howler monkeys and black spider monkeys. As darkness falls on the canopy walkway, you will hope to see the white-winged potoo. Overnight at Atta Rainforest Lodge.  (B/L/D)

Welcome the dawn chorus from the canopy walkway. The unusually timid black curassow can be seen as at least one family party has become habituated and regularly feeds in the clearing of Atta Rainforest Lodge.

After breakfast travel by 4x4 vehicle to a trail in the Iwokrama Forest to hopefully see the Guianian cock-of-the-rock. Continue your trip onto the Amerindian village of Surama.

The village is set in five square miles of savannah and surrounded by the densely forested Pakaraima Mountains. Surama’s inhabitants are mainly from the Macushi tribe and still observe many of the traditional practices of their forebears. On arrival in Surama receive a welcome from a village counsellor and settle into your accommodation. Your guide will take you on a tour of the village. Visit the local school, medical centre and church along with some of the village houses. As the afternoon cools a local guide will escort you for a short walk on trails to observe the forest and bird life. See the forest through the eyes of your indigenous guide and learn about the medicinal plants and their uses in the Amerindian culture. Tonight enjoy an educational walk to observe wildlife and experience the mystique of the forest after dark. Overnight at Surama Guest House.  (B/L/D)

After breakfast depart Surama by 4x4 vehicle for Rock View Lodge at Annai. The road travels through the savannah and the foothills of the Pakaraima Mountains with excellent opportunity for savannah birding. Jabiru stork are often seen along this stretch of road. Eventually we reach the Rupununi and Annai, its northernmost community.

The Rupununi Savannah is an extensive area of grassland with termite mounds and scattered or riparian woodland. Needless to say, the birdlife here is markedly different from that of the rainforest. Rock View Lodge is located where the savannah meets the forest-covered foothills of the Pakaraima Mountains. With its tropical gardens and flowering trees, the lodge resembles an oasis in the savannah, and attracts many species of birds, particularly nectar feeders and frugivores. Overnight at Rock View Lodge.  (B/L/D)

After breakfast transfer by 4x4 vehicle to Ginep Landing for a boat trip on the Rupununi River to Karanambu Ranch. This is the home of Diane McTurk, widely known for her work in rehabilitating orphaned, giant river otters to the wild. Diane and her otters have appeared on National Geographic, Jeff Corwin Experience, Really Wild Show (BBC) and the Calgary’s “Zoo World”. Karanambu has a long history of visiting naturalists and Diane’s father, Tiny McTurk, has welcomed David Attenborough and Gerald Durrell (Three Singles to Adventure).

Late in the afternoon you will travel by boat to look for wild giant river otters and as dusk falls to the ponds to see the giant Victoria Regis waterlily, bloom at dusk. On the return trip you will spotlight for black caiman and birds and creatures of the night. Dinner with Diane will include stories on the history of the family and the Rupununi Savannahs. Overnight at Karanambu Ranch.  (B/L/D)

Diane sometimes has resident orphaned otters and you can help her as she tends to them. You can visit Simoni Pond for some of the best inland fishing* in Guyana including Peacock Bass or explore the flooded forest or savannah. Explore the Rupununi River in search of wild giant river otters, black caiman and arapaima.

An evening visit to Crane Pond to see hundreds of ibis, anhinga, heron and egret roosting is a highlight. If you are interested in birdwatching, you can explore woodland patches or gallery forest along the river where we’ll hope to find such species as spotted puffbird, striped woodcreeper, pale-bellied tyrant-manakin, golden-spangled piculet, bearded tachuri and capuchinbird. When water levels are appropriate, a wooded swamp near the ranch is the site of a surprisingly large colony of boat-billed herons, as well as several species of egrets, anhingas and wattled jacarnas. A feature bird for the area is agami heron. Overnight at Karanambu Ranch.  (B/L/D)

This morning travel out onto the savannah to search for a giant anteater. After lunch transfer by boat to the Amerindian village of Yupukari and Caiman House.

Caiman House is the hub of several participatory development projects, including the introduction of classroom libraries in all three village schools and an internet-enabled public library. Visitors may have the opportunity to meet local craftspeople, including the furniture builders at Yupukari Crafters, a nonprofit venture to create village jobs and generate income to sustain educational development.

Tonight enjoy a foray on the Rupununi River from Caiman House Field Station. As a guest you have the unique opportunity to support and participate in an ongoing field study of the black caiman (melanosuchus niger), the largest member of the alligator family and an endangered species. You are invited to accompany the indigenous crew as they search for and capture black caiman on the river. Guests will observe the capture from a separate boat, but will be offered the opportunity to assist in data collection. Caiman are weighed, measured, sexed and tagged before being released back into the river. The research has already discovered interesting information on caimans’ nests that was previously unknown. During periods of high water it is difficult to capture caiman, so you will have another chance to enter the nocturnal world of the Rupununi River and associated gallery forests which offer an experience, and world of wildlife entirely different than those viewed on a day trip. Skilled guides will expertly escort visitors to meet elusive denizens of darkness by outboard powered boats, while interpreting the sights, and sounds of Guyana after dark.

Just after darkness settles on the river many creatures emerge such as spectacled caiman, tree boas, iguanas, frogs, and many fish species (i.e arrawana, piranha). Sleeping birds (kingfishers, small perching birds) nightjars, potoos, boat-billed herons and other aquatic birds, bats, (harmless) spiders, insects, moths, and more can be closely approached in way not possible during the hours of light. Less likely, but not rare inclusions for night viewing include possums, tree dwelling rodents, capybara and sleeping monkeys (esp. squirrel monkeys) amongst other mammals. Few nights pass without some unusual offering.

Overnight at Caiman House.  (B/L/D)