Dear Editor,
Way below the populated, industrialized and busy coastal belt in Guyana lies a silent gem that waits to be discovered—the Rupununi Savannahs. I attended the rodeo that was held there last weekend and I have a bundle of experiences that I wish to share with your readers. My suppositions of Lethem were very wrong, as I thought the place to be a distant port in the south of Guyana with hardly any buzzing civilization, but I was very wrong. There is active telephone coverage in the area, from both major telecommunication companies, a regular supply of electricity, supermarkets, shops, restaurants, internet cafes, hotels and more.
Thousands were present at this year’s rodeo at the Triple ‘R’ Rodeo Site in Lethem. As I travelled through the area there was the backdrop of the majestic Kanuku Mountains, huge, standing tall, with haze preventing one from seeing the true beauty of these mountains. On my third day in Lethem, we trekked to the Kanuku mountains to see the Kumu waterfalls that are located inside this great mountain. On our nearly 45-minute drive from Lethem through St Ignatius and towards the Kanuku, we saw large expanses of savannahs, tall anthills (several of them along the way), benabs, and oh yes, how can I forget: the dust roads of the savannahs (more like dusty paths that the vehicles depend on to traverse the area). The nearer we got, the bigger the mountains appeared before us. We then got out of the vehicle and made our way by foot towards the mountains. We crossed two shallow creeks. The water was ice-cold. Then the climbing began. We climbed huge boulders of rock, a lot of them. We were climbing the Kanuku Mountains. I immediately remembered my trip to the majestic Kaieteur late last December. But this current climbing was more intense. It was not as easy as getting to the Kaieteur Falls. On our way, as if to give us encouragement, we heard the loud gushing of the Kumu Falls. It was magnificent. Huge rocks, the size of tractors, were before us. And between those rocks, water gushed out. It was the hand of God Himself. It had to be! It was magnificent!
There were two more levels of this waterfall; each going higher up these Kanuku Mountains. We climbed further. The tour guide explained, after reaching the first and highest level of the waterfall, that we were some 250 ft up the Kanuku Mountains! I’ve heard so much about the Kanuku mountain range. In school, I was taught that these mountains divided the north Savannahs from the south Savannahs. The Rupununi is a huge area of savannah mass, which if explored in detail, would take a very long time.
I did not see but I heard of this gigantic rock (the Shea Rock) that sits at the middle of either the north or south Savannah and the mystery of it being where it is.
Lethem is a beautiful area, as is the entire Rupununi, with a need for more development than it has at the moment. One deterrent to tourism in this area, and many have related this to me, is the road system in the area: those dusty roads or tracks as some call them. The roadways in Lethem are not like those on the coast. It is a network of roadways paved with red sand. The dust is very bothersome to those who reside in the area and needs to be looked at immediately if the government intends to open up tourism in these areas.
Lethem will see a take- off with the completion of the Takutu Bridge but then Guyana has to do its part and create better roads in Lethem. The Georgetown to Lethem road needs to be looked after as well, and pitched like the coastal roads. So what is the government waiting for?
The crossing at the Takutu River is magnificent. I hear during the dry season one can easily walk across the Takutu River to get to Bon Fim in Brazil. After checking out at the Lethem Immigration Office, I headed for Boa Vista, a Brazilian city. It is some 1½ hours drive from Bon Fim. It is amazing that one can still see the majestic Kanuku Mountains on the way to Boa Vista. The area is very high and one would notice the constant going up and going down of the road network towards Boa Vista. It is really amazing.
It is also amazing that many Guyanese long to pose in front of Niagara Falls, CN Tower, New York, etc and forget that in their own homeland and right in their own backyard, there are jewels waiting to be discovered. The vast Rupununi Savannahs, the Amazon forest, the various waterfalls and rapids, and other areas hidden in Guyana beckon to all Guyanese to visit, to discover, to experience for themselves what it means to walk the ground of one of the world’s last untouched protected areas.
I wish to thank Ms Mersha Johnson and her mom and the entire staff of the Takutu Guesthouse for making our trip memorable.
Yours faithfully,
Leon Jameson Suseran
