We were awake by 4.45 as we wanted to have pre walk tea at 5.45 prior to meeting Gabriel and walking to the Panorama trail which was up and onto a ridge, with wonderful panoramic views, close to the Lodge. It was a steep climb but when we got to the top we did have good views of the surrounding savannah and woodland. We could hear agouti shuffling around in the undergrowth but could not see them - on the bird front we saw a white tailed eagle, blue gray and palm tanagers and some fly catchers. The find of the morning was an orange and black poison arrow frog - but it hopped off too quickly before I could snap a photo.
A quick freshen up before breakfast - but when breakfast was over we had proper showers and finished packing ready for our 0945 departure.
The boat from Karanambu arrived practically on the dot of 1030 with Martin at the helm and Jerry in the bow.
We then had a two hour trip up the river taking in the wildlife as we went - soft shelled turtles - which I finally photographed before they rapidly slid into the river, black caiman, two green iguana one with a tail and one who had lost it, a king vulture, black vulture, common black hawks - adult and juvenile, osprey, plover,coqui heron - too numerous to mention, great egret , black collared hawk, white fronted swallows. As we moved along the river the vegetation changed no longer the tall rainforests of yesterday but much shorter trees no doubt signifying that we were on the edge of savannah.
Half way we stopped for juice and lovely cheese and garlic biscuits. While stopped we saw bees seemingly tasting the sand on the sand bank - we concluded that they were probaly after some type(s) of minerals.
When we arrived the supplies left at Rock View for them, and which had come with us, of orange juice, water, rum and coffee were off loaded first - then we got off and were met by Salvador and Diana McTurk - a very spritely tall, slim lady now 80 ish, who showed us to our room - a great big double bed ( 2 singles together) a nice shower and dressing room together with shampoo and conditioner - the lights were solar power but charging was possible- yippee!
As it was now 1pm, after a quick freshen up we went to lunch and informed Salvador and Andrea of the wonderful meals we had had at Rewa - especially the macaroni cheese- they were really pleased as they were not sure whether their teaching had registered or not- it clearly had! There is great camaraderie and support for the new lodges as they know their success will impact on them eg in year1 of operation Rewa only had two guests - they had a thousand, next year Rewa had 200 and they had 2000- clearly one impacts on the other so reputationly they need to work together.
A great lunch from the teachers - cook up rice, beautiful plantain, salad, chick pea based fritters with mango and orange - with a dash of rum punch for desert.
Next a siesta before a 4.30 meet to go and watch the amazon lilly - Victoria Amazonica - the national flower of Guyana - open. As we went down the river to the ox bow lake where the lilies are we saw a capybara family - mum, dad ( smaller than mum) and baby on the edge in the foliage, brown capuchin monkeys going between the tress and eating, as well as black skimmers, pied plovers and black hawks. We parked the boat walked a short distance to the lake and got into another boat. - after emptying all the water out- Martin and Jerry then paddled us to then second part of the lake which was full of lily pads, closed lilies and old lilies - those that had already opened 3 times and were now dying off having been fertilised by the golden scareb beetle. It took about 45mins from when the sun went down for the flower to fully open - I took lots of photos to track progress. While waiting and watching we also saw minute frogs, jacanas moving over the lily pads, jacamars, kingfishers, herons great egrets, great kiskadees ( who eat small fish while living here) and a wonderful sunset.
We paddled back in the dark - and saw the pink eyes of the caimans in the flashlights and paraque night jars flying around. Reunited with the motor boat we wended our way back to the lodge arriving about 7.20pm having seen 3 broad billed herons enroute - great night herons with really broad bills! A quick shower and change and it was off to dinner - the hosts, Dee, Andrea and Salvador, and two regular guests Polly a disabled lady from the US who has been coming for years and is a birder - as she says there are no stairs and she can still see the birds from either a landrover or a boat - and the staff look after her so well,and Gordon, a man in his fifties from the east end of London who has been travelling for 2 months in Guyana - his wife doesn't come on these trips- he has known Dee for a long time and indeed introduced her to Primark when she was in London rather than Harrods for buying some things for the lodge .....and that epitomises the friendship and relationship - ie when Primark met Harrods !
A good fun dinner with lots of laughs -we learned that when Mick Jagger visited with his girlfriend - the otter bit her after she remarked it would make a nice coat - and when Kenneth Clarke visited - Dee had said 'Oh yes I have read your diaries' -- mistaking him for Alan Clarke - they are not really of the same ilk!!
To bed just after 2130 as we had set our alarm for 4.55am to be up for coffee at 5.30 before venturing out at in search of anteaters.