Three international tour guides, three journalists and two representatives from Leica, a leading optics company, are expected to go on a  local tourism familiarization trip that will allow them to sample and evaluate Guyana’s  sustainable tourism experience, the Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA) said in a release on Saturday.

And while on the trip, which is scheduled from  November 15-25, the participants will be learning about Guyana’s birds, flora and fauna, culture and history  from local guides based at each destination, the release stated.

The familiarization tour is part of the GTA-United States Agency for International Development (USAID)/Guyana Trade and Investment Support (GTIS) Guyana Sustainable Tourism Initiative (GSTI).

Judy Karwacki of GTIS and Tony Thorne of Wilderness Explorers will be leading the tour and accompanying the group will be local birding guides Asaph Wilson and Luke Johnson, local photographer David Fernandes and GTIS writer and author of the Bradt Guyana guidebook, Kirk Smock. Participants on this familiarization trip will spend time in and around Georgetown, Kaieteur Falls, Karanambu Ranch, Caiman House at Yupukari Village, Rock View Lodge, Aranaputa Village, Surama Village, Fair View Village, and Iwokrama Field Station and Canopy Walkway.

Tour participants include Mike Weedon, assistant editor of Bird Watching magazine, Erica Gies, freelance environmental reporter who has written for The New York Times and International Herald Tribune, and Julie Zickefoose, natural history writer and artist who is a frequent contributor to Bird Watchers Digest.

According to the release, the two representatives from Leica, one of the   top optics and camera companies in the world, will be looking at the possibility of developing a multi-faceted partnership with Guyana, involving digiscoping (using digital cameras with spotting scopes) and dealer and media tours. The tours, the release added,  would not have been possible if local tourism suppliers were not pledging their full support and for this programme GTA-USAID/GTIS  expressed their gratitude  for the generous contributions from Wilderness Explorers, Caribbean Airlines, Trans Guyana Airways, Cara Lodge, Grand Coastal Inn, Le Meridien Pegasus,  Surama Ecolodge, Iwokrama International Centre, Rock View Lodge, Karanambu Ranch, Community and Tourism Services (CATS), Caiman House at Yupukari Village, Aranaputa Village and Fair View Village.