The Forgotten Coast

Arrive in Georgetown, Guyana's capital, on the Atlantic coast — its wooden colonial architecture bleached silver by the tropical sun, its seawall the only thing between the streets and a sea that sits above the level of most of the city. The morning is given entirely to Kaieteur Falls: a private charter from Ogle Airport, about forty-five minutes over unbroken rainforest to a grass airstrip near the rim of the Potaro Gorge. Kaieteur drops 226 metres in a single plunge, the spray rising back up in a permanent mist. There are no guardrails at the main viewpoint and only a handful of other visitors. Return to Georgetown by afternoon.

An early start for the drive east to the Surinamese border — the crossing is made by ferry across the Courantyne River, which forms the border between the two countries. From there it is a few hours' drive to Paramaribo, where the colonial streetscape along the Waterkant looks like Amsterdam transported to the tropics. The afternoon is for walking the old city: the Saint Peter and Paul Cathedral, Fort Zeelandia on the river, and the Central Market — perhaps the most ethnically diverse market in the Americas.

A morning departure by motor canoe begins the transition from the colonial city to the interior. The river journey south takes several hours, moving through flat coastal savanna and then into riverside forest that thickens as the population thins, the canopy closing overhead until the sky is a strip of blue between the crowns. The destination is an ecolodge — open-sided cabins on the riverbank, surrounded by undisturbed primary rainforest. The evening is for the river: caimans come out after dark, their eyes reflecting red in a flashlight beam.

A full day in the forest. The morning village walk visits the Maroon community near the lodge — descendants of escaped enslaved Africans who established autonomous communities in the interior centuries ago. The afternoon forest walk goes deeper into the primary rainforest, where the guide can identify species by sound before they become visible: morpho butterflies the size of a hand, giant river otters, three species of monkey, the harpy eagle on a very good day. The Bigi Pan marshes are accessible by canoe and represent one of the finest birding areas in South America. After dark, another caiman count from the canoe.

The return journey upriver is slower than the descent — current against the bow — and the morning light on the forest is different from the afternoon. Back in Paramaribo by early afternoon, the remainder of the day is genuinely free: the Numismatic Museum for the extraordinary range of currencies that have circulated through Suriname, the Javanese neighbourhood of Kwatta for the best food in the country, or simply the hammock on the hotel terrace with a Parbo beer and a view of the river traffic.

The expedition closes with breakfast and a transfer to Johan Adolf Pengel International Airport for onward connections. Those with a further appetite for the Guianas can continue east into French Guiana — Cayenne, the Salvation Islands (where Dreyfus was imprisoned), and the Ariane rocket launch site at Kourou are all within reach. Ask us about the French Guiana extension.