Besides the nice accommodations,
authentic home-cooking and personalized laundry service, the Ayonto Hororo homestay provides an opportunity to view wildlife up close. Behind the eco-lodge, a dozen or so land tortoises cavort amongst the low-growing papaya bushes. “These are the only two species of terrestrial turtles in Guyana,” our proprietor maintains, “The yellow-footed, and the red-footed.
Either of them makes
a great pet.” Nestled inside a carapace of bone, these cold-blooded vertebrates lumber over the close-cropped grasses near the patio. I pick up the one with the garish red speckles on his front and hind legs, and yellow flecks atop his head – he looks as if he’s been ‘bedazzled’ with crimson nail polish and gold-colored gems.
18 BIRD SCENE
A few minutes later, Damon appears toting an ivory sack and sporting a Cheshire-cat grin. A tug on the drawstring brings forth a juvenile red-tailed boa constrictor, eagerly attempting to wiggle out of the canvas bag. Zigzagging towards a nearby soursop tree and the tall weeds at the edge of the property… serpentining towards freedom. Our indigenous host steps between the snake and its impending freedom, completely unfazed as the boa slithers over his toes. “It senses heat,” he comments, pointing to an inquisitive rooster making a brave approach. “That’s why they don’t eat carrion. They have to sense something as ‘prey’.” He laughs, “They need something to stimulate that tiny reptile brain.” A self-taught herpetologist and expert admirer of parrots, Damon and his Arawak
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