Guyana

My Guyana travel summary:

Visited: October 2015

Duration of visit: 3 days

Capital city: Georgetown

Population: 770.000 (2015)

Guyana travel blog reading time: 4 minutes

• Flying over Kaieteur Falls and feeling the power of falling water from the nearby cliff.
• Uninspiring capital – Georgetown with very limited attractions and exciting places to visit.

Suriname and both Guyanas are usually not very high on priority list of the most popular countries to visit in South America. They weren’t a priority for me either. But when I set a goal to visit all countries in the world, they became some of the few left in the continent.

I visited Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana in 2015, after years of exploring, traveling, and living in the Americas. In general, I had no expectations. My only goal was to visit landmark number one, Kaieteur Falls.

I entered Guyana overland from Suriname. The biggest difference, that I noticed immediately, was the language. Official language in Guyana is English, but the accent is extremely strong and sometimes very difficult to understand. How people speak varies with their education and the amount of Creole or other words they use.

The capital city, Georgetown, sits on the banks of Demerara River, on the Atlantic Ocean. The highlight of British colonial architecture is represented by tall, Gothic-style St. George’s Anglican Cathedral. Although the city offers no remarkable places to visit or special things to do, I still felt safe walking around.

Beside the cathedral, probably the most interesting place to visit in Georgetown was Stabroek Market.

The market is as hectic as any other in Latin America. It offers a mix of locally grown fruits and vegetables alongside many imported goods.

Above the main entrance to the market is a steel tower, holding a four-dialed clock, which was installed back in 19^th century. People warned me that safety could be an issue. Pickpockets operate frequently, and robberies happen every day. I was careful, as always, when travel around marginal areas to avoid any incidents.

The most important reason I traveled to Guyana was to visit Kaieteur Falls. It is the world’s largest single-drop waterfall by water volume. The waterfall is 226 meters high when measured from its plunge over a sandstone and conglomerate cliff to the first break.

While many falls have greater height, few have the combination of height and water volume as Kaieteur. It is one of the most powerful waterfalls in the world, with an average flow of 663 m³ per second.

To put it in perspective, Kaieteur Falls is about four times higher than Niagara Falls. It is also nearly twice as tall as Victoria Falls.

The best way to visit Kaieteur Falls is by airplane, if you don’t want to spend 5 days and a lot of money for a tough overland trip. I took a short flight on a 12-seater aircraft from Georgetown. We flew very low over the waterfall and landed just a few hundred meters away.

The waterfall was amazing, with its powerful waters crashing down into the gorge below. Lush, green rainforest stretched as far as the eye could see. I was allowed to walk very close and approach it from different angles, always from the top.

Since I travelled to Guyana in the dry season, the river flow was not at its maximum. The size and power of the waterfall thrilled me. Standing on the precipice above the massive falling water was thrilling.

I can also compare Kaieteur to other famous waterfalls I visited in the Americas, like Foz de Iguaçu or Niagara Falls. Even though its volume is smaller, the view and arriving by airplane made it equally spectacular.

After an hour of watching and enjoying the falls, I returned to the airplane. I joined a group of mostly Russian visitors who live and work in Guyana for the flight back to Georgetown.

Culturally closer to the Caribbean than South America, Guyana is the only English-speaking country on the continent. It is home to a blend of cultures, famous cricket players, diverse geography, virgin rainforest, and one of South America’s most amazing waterfalls.

I really enjoyed visiting Kaieteur Falls, one of the most spectacular waterfalls in the world. The waterfall’s scale and power were absolutely breathtaking; the highlight of my Guyana travel adventure.

I didn’t have time or interest in exploring the country more deeply. However, being so underdeveloped in tourism, it likely has many hidden gems beyond the main coastal route.