Pakaraima Mountain Safari 2012 Pt. 5

On March 30, 2013March 30, 2013 By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography1 Comment

As we were behind schedule, I thought we would have left Paramakatoi extra early, but we started out close to 8am and headed for Kato.

At Kato we had a brief stop, some vehicles were attended to, and some thirst needs were also attended to 🙂

Our next stop would be at Kurukubaru, although I did not take many photos on the way into the village or even at the village, this one of a family at their home I liked.

From Kurukubaru, our next stop would be the destination of the entire Safari, Orinduik Falls, the route there proved to be unusually treacherous for the vehicles, it was on the way there and back to Kurukubaru that evening that the vehicle suffered the most damage 🙂 Unfortunately, no photos, not a lot of stopping on that leg of the journey 🙂

Just to prove that the Destination was worth it, I’ve selected quite a few photos to show you of Orinduik.

One of my favourites from Orinduik, Jason and Lily take in the grandeur of Orinduik Falls

See the crazy white dude? He just HAD to get a bit of fishing in… no, he didn’t catch anything 🙂

A Panorama of Orinduik Falls to catch the breadth of this stage 🙂

Although we wanted to make it back to Kato that evening, we lost the main convoy in the rains up at Kurukubaru, and were advised by the villagers not to descend the mountain in the rain, so we spent the night at Kurukubaru, the highest village in Guyana.

There may be one more post in this series, but it will be sometime next week, the Easter Weekend is upon us 🙂

Please click on the photos to see them larger in the Gallery.

Pakaraima Mountain Safari 2012 Pt. 4

On March 28, 2013March 28, 2013 By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography1 Comment

Monkey Mountain: We started the day as per normal, early 🙂

I even managed to get in a few snaps before departing, which is a lot more than I managed in 2009.

A view from the benab, our collapsible bucket in the entrance

A cross on the hill, right nearby is the Catholic Church in the village

Our next stop would be in Tuseneng, below you can see some of the terrain that we traversed on the way there 🙂

At Tuseneng, I was fascinated by the “tools of the trade” that could be seen outside the huts / buildings around the village centre.

After Tuseneng we’d be headed towards Paramakatoi passing through Bamboo Creek on the way, this segment of the drive proved more challenging than originally expected as you can see from the photos below:

By the time we arrived at Paramakatoi it was nigh on twilight, and Frank sought permission for us to stay there for the nigh, even though our original destination for the day would have been Kato.

Click on the images to see them larger in the Gallery, especially the trail ones 🙂

Pakaraima Mountain Safari 2012 – Pt. 2

On March 25, 2013March 25, 2013 By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography1 Comment

When on Safari, we tend to want to get up early, not just to get ready, get breakfast, break camp etc, but to ensure that we get our ration of fuel for the day 🙂 And that the convoy doesn’t leave us behind. I jest, they wouldn’t do that, would they?

We awoke early at Karasabai and broke camp, after the morning ablutions, breakfast and so forth, we then had some time for a few photos as we waited for the convoy to assemble

Karasabai is not a cluster of huts, but a wide area.

Bicycles, the main method of transportation, after walking

Our first full day in the mountain trails, and we even had a few stops where we could take more photographs 🙂

One of the Army vehicles making its way through a rocky part of the trail.

Cecil Beharry, and his Land Rover from Jamaica!

Just after a rather steep mountain pass, we stopped at a village called Karabaiko, where Eddy even got into doing some repairs.

We visited the village of Tipuru on the way. Tipuru has a nice little shop that has lovely indigenous food and drink for sale, like Cassava bread and “Fly”, a potato liquor.

Thence to our final stop for the day at Rukumotu (not our planned stop, but it was too late and too dangerous to proceed any farther.

At Rukumotu, they gave us permission to camp out on the grounds or in the school, we picked a nice hard spot outside the school, that ended up bending at least one of our tent pegs… we were definitely in the mountains, not soft Rupununi soil at all.

Click on the photos to see them in the Safari 2012 Gallery in the Collection.

Pakaraima Mountain Safari – The Great Wall

On April 4, 2012March 29, 2012 By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography4 Comments

Someone apparently likened this section of the trail to the Great Wall of China, and the name Great Wall has been used to identify it since then.

It is probably similar in its winding fashion and the fact that at least one side is a very large drop to the bottom.

This photos does not convey that sense of the steep drop, but trust me, when you’re in that vehicle and you look over the side, vertigo and fear step in 🙂