How Yupukari’s Caiman House became a beacon for conservation and culture

Deep in the heart of the Rupununi, Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo), where the rainforest gives way to floodplain savannah, the stillness of the river at night is broken by the soft hum of boats and the shining reflection of a black caiman’s eye. This is the site of Caiman House, a field station and guest lodge where conservation is not just a project; it is woven into the very fabric of community life. Caiman House was founded in 2005 by two Americans, biologist Peter Taylor and Alice Layton, who saw more than just a research opportunity when they came to one of the beautiful communities in the Rupununi: Yupukari. They envisioned a model where science, culture and local stewardship converge.
Over some two decades, that vision has grown into a thriving social enterprise, entirely community-led, underscored by research, education, craft and cultural revival. Delrene Lawrence, General Manager (GM) of Caiman House, captured the soul of the place during a meeting with members of the media during our visit. Guyana Times, along with leading media houses in Guyana, was at the time on a media familiarisation trip organised by the Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA) and the Government of Guyana. Lawrence told us, “So, since Peter left, we have been working and still continue to do the Black Caiman research. So, we still collect data. We have our local team that was trained, and we continue that through research tourism. We do crafts, we do research, we do education, we have a public library. And also, we try to, as much as we can, to reintroduce back our culture that is failing every day.” Her words reflect not a temporary project, but a commitment to institutionalising conservation and cultural resilience. Importantly, she didn’t shy away from the deeper struggles: traditional knowledge fading, environmental threats and the very real need to sustain the younger generation’s interest in their heritage.

Intergenerational
She explained how children are being drawn back into cultural arts: “We have kids coming over. [They] learn to plot. Some are into pottery. Some are spinning cotton. We work closely with [the] wildlife club. We do a garbage campaign. We pass on to our children.”
According to Lawrence, this is not just environmental work; it’s intergenerational healing. One of the most compelling experiences for guests she highlighted was the night-time caiman capture tour. As Tourism Guyana describes it: “You have to wait until dusk. Then … you board your boats … with the expert black caiman research team … capturing, measuring and tagging black caiman … in the wild.”
Under a canopy of stars, the research crew manoeuvre their boat, spotlights sweeping the water, until the tell-tale glint of a caiman’s eye appears. Once caught, the team carefully handles the animal, measuring, recording, and sometimes implanting a small tag, always ensuring its safe return to the river.
But Caiman House’s conservation isn’t limited to caimans. Over the years, it has expanded into turtle conservation, particularly of the yellow-spotted river turtle. Lawrence shared how the community now monitors turtle nesting sites, collects eggs, incubates them and eventually releases hatchlings:
“As soon as we find them, we would monitor them. We have local rangers; they would bring these eggs to [a] man-made sand pit. [Then] they’re hatched, and after one year, we would release them. We have released over 8000 turtles back into the wild.”
The impact of that goes beyond biology. It is deeply cultural.

Public library
Lawrence also emphasised the role of the Yupukari Public Library, funded and run through Caiman House’s non-profit framework, in shaping young minds.
“We have after-school programmes, making education as fun. We put them, give them different activities. They borrow books, at the end reading rodeo. Games, gifts.” Every December, they host a “reading rodeo”, bringing children from local schools together in a celebration of stories, learning, and nature. The library also distributes books to surrounding communities, nurturing a regional culture of literacy. One of the less visible but deeply powerful parts of Caiman House’s work is in cultural preservation. As Lawrence described: “We try as much to get [the children] involved. We try to get them to learn weaving, making matapis, making shumba. But the younger generation now, they are not interested. We encourage the school children to do weaving, pottery, spinning cotton.” By teaching these arts, Lawrence said the Caiman House is doing more than preserving crafts; it is restoring a sense of identity, anchoring tradition in future generations. Caiman House’s model has begun to gain national and international recognition. It is registered as a non-profit in Guyana, with 100 per cent of its surplus revenue channelled back into conservation, education and cultural projects. Its success has been noted in policy documents: a blueprint on community tourism from Conservation International describes the caiman project’s structure, emphasising that “the tourism committee reports directly to the village council,” preserving local governance and ownership. Moreover, the turtle conservation project, part of the broader work at Caiman House, has been highlighted by CIFOR-ICRAF for its community-led approach.
Our media trip, led by the Ministry of Tourism and Commerce and supported by the GTA, couldn’t have come at a better time. With biodiversity under increasing pressure and local traditions eroding in many places, Caiman House stands as a living rebuke to the idea that conservation must extract value from nature without giving back. There, conservation is not a foreign imposition; it’s an inherited responsibility. And tourism isn’t parasitic; it’s part of the village’s fabric.

Looking Forward: challenges and hopes
Lawrence was clear-eyed about the road ahead; climate change, water-level shifts, and the need to maintain youth engagement are real challenges. She also acknowledges the fragility of memory, especially as elders pass on and young people draw toward modern life.
“We reintroduce back our culture that is failing every day,” she said.
That alone makes Caiman House more than a field station; it makes it a sanctuary for resilience.