of midday. Gustavo extends a finger to the psittacine and Ashton approaches without a care in the world. Too bad we can’t linger here, in this well-tended garden, much longer…storm clouds are brewing and another early afternoon downpour threatens.
Savanna and Tropical Rainforest, just outside gate at Eco-lodge Just beyond the entrance gate to the Eco-lodge property, we begin our trek… tramping along the muddy lane that leads into the reservation. After last night’s pounding thunderstorms, the access road has become more of a riverbed of soft loam. We climb the embankment just past the giant breadfruit tree and arrive at the savanna grasslands. Dappled by hardy Dakama trees growing out of the white sand, the plains offer little in the manner of shelter from the broiling sun. But I am prepared for the heat – I have my broad-brimmed hat, my dampened ‘cooling’ towel draped around my neck, and plenty of 50 SPF sunscreen slathered on my face, arms and legs. We scan the distant tree-line, at the
start of the rainforest, in search of wild animals. Nothing. The rampant rains of the past few days have driven the Mahaica beyond its banks (to about 6-feet above flood stage), and even the open savanna shows sign of torrential excess. Pools of water snake across the sandy soil.
22 BIRD SCENE
Noon draws near and we seek respite
from the heat under the flowering branches of a cashew tree. Thwack, thwack, Buddy severs the ‘handle’ from the succulent cashew apple and pries the nut from its kidney-shaped shell. Sucking on the sweet juice, which tastes like a hybrid of mango and grapefruit, we are suddenly distracted by a flock of parrots cruising overhead.
Screeching and
cackling in raucous fashion, but unfortunately, too high up in the air for a decent photograph. No matter.
It just
feels fabulous listening to their natural prattle, watching them glide freely, without fear of capture, across the cloudy northern Guyana sky. With my thirst quenched by the cashew apple and my enthusiasm resuscitated by the sight of the psittacines, I am ready to continue on, into the tropical rainforest jungle. Trudging along a narrow trail often obliterated by decomposing leaves or puddles of rain run-off.
Through the
palms and mimosa trees we wander… catching a glimpse every now and again of an orchid bloom sandwiched amidst the bromeliads and liana vines, in our quest for lizards, snakes, and giant frogs.
Outskirts of Tribal Village, Pakuri Reservation Nightfall has already descended and the trail to the tribal village is lit only by Damon’s headlamp and the weak beam of our flashlights. At the first home on the
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