Travel Tuesday Office Travels: Guyana
Guyana: An Introduction
South America is one of those continents that had never been on my radar until very recently. After living with a lovely Brazilian girl and meeting a number of her friends in Germany in 2012 during my study abroad, I became infinitely more curious about this land to the south. My curiosity, however, had blinders on—only acknowledging the larger, better known countries such as Brazil, Argentina, Peru, etc. Never had I heard of the country of Guyana, and I never paid it much mind until this morning when I spun around five times in my cube in King of Prussia, PA and my little cut-out passport found its way to this small country on the northern coast of South America, but I was glad it did!
Guyana, officially known as the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, is surprisingly one of the few “Caribbean” countries that isn’t actually an island, which is interesting since I didn’t actually know that you could be a Caribbean country without being an island. It was originally colonized by the Dutch in 1616, but was under British rule from the late 18th century until 1966 when it officially gained its independence. Since then, however, it’s been a bit of a roller coaster thanks to political tensions with Venezuela and internal corruption, yet now it seems that most of the shenanigans are ending and the country is beginning to be recognized by the likes of National Geographic Traveler as one of the must-see places on earth in 2014.
The Basics
Name: The Co-operative Republic of Guyana
Location: South America
Languages: English (official) with 11 other recognized languages
How to get there
Obviously from the US, it is most likely best to fly to the Cheddi Jagan International Airport located about 25 miles south of the capital, Georgetown, in a small town called Timehri. You can get direct flights from Miami and New York City, as well as Toronto, Brazil, Suriname, Barbados, and Trinidad, although most all international flights connect from Miami, New York, Toronto and London. You can also get there by sea if you happen to be in the area, but for more information on that, you can click here.
There are a number of airlines that fly down to Georgetown and it’s really easy to find a flight on any major travel search engine. I did a search on my favorite travel search engine, Momondo (Shout out!), for over my birthday week in February 2015 and it came up with some pretty awesome looking flights direct from JFK in New York City to Georgetown!
Other Travel Details:
- Citizens of the USA are not required to get a visa
Where To Stay
uncommonadventures.com
Hotels/Resorts: There seems to be a ton of hotels and resorts along the coast of the country that opens up to the Atlantic Ocean. Any of them can be booked on the normal travel sites like Kayak, Booking.com, and Expedia. Prices are usually $60+ for mid-range and $140+ for exclusive per room.
Hostels: After doing some brief research on Hostels.com and Hostelworld.com, it seems that there is really only one place that is kind of considered a hostel: Kanhai’s Center in Georgetown. We can assume then that there isn’t much of a backpacker and hostel culture yet in Guyana. What they do have, however, are something called guesthouses for more of a budget price. There are a number of them scattered throughout the country, and the Guyana Tourism website seems to have a good number of them listed as reliable accommodations. Prices are usually $25+ per room.
B&Bs: Advertised as providing the “true Guyanese experience”, there are a number of B&Bs around the country that are mentioned, along with contact information and addresses, on the Guyana Tourism website. Prices are usually $40+ per room.
Things to do
telegraph.co.uk
Hiking/Trekking: Guyana has one of the largest unspoiled rain forests in South America, and is slowly becoming one of the best places to explore untouched parts of the Amazon. It’s a country that is described as “raw” by their tourism board, and as an “Avatar on Earth” by Conde Nast Traveler, so if that doesn’t help you picture the breathtaking natural beauty with amazing wildlife and awe-inspiring waterfalls, I don’t know what will.
Animal Watching: There is a ton of unique wildlife to be seen in Guyana! It has one of the highest levels of “biodiversity” in the world, meaning it has a crap-ton of different animals and plants. It has 1168 different vertebrate species, over 800 bird species and an outrageous number of different mammals including jaguars, tapirs, bush dogs, anteaters, and monkeys, not to mention that 70% of the natural habitat of these animals are still intact, making it a huge country for Eco-tourism!
Essentially, Guyana is reserved for the outdoorsy type who seeks adventure in untouched and remote parts of the world! Although there are some beaches, it seems that going to Guyana without seeing its lush rain forests and incredible animal life would be doing a disservice to the country.
Other Fun Facts
adventure-life.com
- It was first sighted in the western world by Christopher Columbus in 1698 during his third voyage.
- Guyana is the only South American nation where English is the official language, although majority of the population speak Guyanese Creol.
- It is the third smallest country in South America after Uruguay and Suriname
Am I hopping on a plane now?
Given everything I have now learned about Guyana, I think that it would be a pretty freaking cool place to visit! The hiking and outdoorsy activities were really the first things to attract me, and then when I read that it was selected by National Geographic Traveler, one of my favorite travel resources, as a must-see place for 2014. After some political turmoil, it seems like Guyana has finally figured out some things and would be a fantastic place to visit for someone like me! It’s easy and reasonably priced to get to, it’s pretty off the beaten path, and there are a ton of beautify photography to be had, so count me in! Who else wants to tag along??
Traveling Kelsey 
Seems like a beautiful, relatively unspoiled country to visit. The fact that it doesn’t have a ton of backpacker’s hostels just means you might have to bring a tent or maybe a hammock and sling it up somewhere in the jungle 🙂
You are so right! A hammock in Guyana sounds so wonderfully blissful right about now! Meet you there? 😛
Anything sounds more blissful that work, which I take it you’re encumbered by. You can find me in Morocco right now 😉
COOL! BLOG 😀
Thank you so much! I’m so glad you enjoyed it! 🙂