TRANSFER TO KARANUMBU LODGE VIA
ROCKVIEW LODGE AND A 3 HOUR RIVER CRUISE
Our last chance of seeing the
Fruitcrow divided the group this morning, some insisted on returning to the
Canopy Walkway whist the rest wanted to stay around the gardens and walk the
track through the forest to the main road. We all planned to meet up again at
8am in the garden as this was best time to see the Fruitcrow if it showed
there.
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| WHITE-HEADED WATER TYRANT |
Both groups came back empty
handed and neither of us had a new species to report, so we sat and waited in
the garden area until 10am when we were due to set off to our last ‘wilderness’
lodge at Karanambu.
Two 4*4 open backed trucks
arrived on time for the journey to Karanambu, so after saying goodbye to our
excellent hosts Peter and Yolinda we climbed aboard and set off for the 90
minute ride.
There was plenty to see along the way especially when we left the forest and entered the savannah areas. Southern Lapwing, Savannah Hawk, Fork-tailed Flycatcher, Eastern Meadowlark and lots more.
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| PALM TANAGER |
For lunch we stopped at Rockview
Lodge, because unlike most other countries, it is so remote in Guyana there are
no roadside, restaurant, petrol stations, shops or banks! In fact we hardly saw
a building or another car along this main road that leads to Brazil,
incredible.
At Rockview we had time to walk
the lovely grounds before lunch. We founds lots species and I finally got to
take some good pictures of Fork-tailed Flycatcher and we found White-headed
Water-Tyrant, Yellow Warbler, Common Tody Flycatcher, Yellow Oriole and lots of
the common birds.
For second part of the journey to
Karanambu we had to drive a further 10 miles along the bumpy main road to a
place called Ginep Landing where we were to take a boat to the lodge. It almost
went to plan except one of the vehicles broke down before we set off, so 3 of
us were delayed by an hour before another vehicle arrived. In the meantime the
first group has an hour’s birding at Ginep and they saw a few new species for
the trip.
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| BLACK-COLLARED HAWK |
The boat trip to Karanabu was
superb, we saw many birds as well as Black Caiman and two family parties of
Giant River Otter, fantastic. Bird sightings were frequent with herons, egrets,
ibis and especially Kingfishers. Rufescent and Boat-billed Herons were great
sightings as was Pied Plover, Black Skimmer and frequent views of Ringed,
Amazon and Green Kingfishers. It was late into the trip when we pulled into a
large pool, which were told was fast becoming an ox-bow lake. The huge Amazon
Water Lilies covered the water’s surface in places, you see the bulbous flower
heads that were about to open as it got dark. We had a lovely time sitting in
the middle of that pool, we saw Grey-necked Wood Rail, Green Ibis,
Brown-collared Hawk and two Sunbitterns.
As the light faded we
completed our journey and alighted at the landing of the Karanambu Lodge. It
was dark when we arrived at this superb riverside camp but the ambiance and the
lovely welcome we had was terrific. Over a superb dinner (the best food of the
trip) we discussed our itinerary for the next couple of days and then we
retired to bed. |
| THE CENTRAL PATH THROUGH THE GARDENS AT ROCKVIEW |
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| YELLOW ORIOLE |
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| WHAT WE HAD FOR LUNCH TODAY |
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| AMAZONIAN GIANT LILIES - NEW FLOWERS OPEN ONLY AT NIGHT |
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| ARRIVING AT KARANAMBU |
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