What is even better than a breath-taking tourism experience?
The rainforest and experiencing Guyana’s wildlife without stepping into the dense jungle.
The Canopy Walkway
The Iwokrama Canopy Walkway Rainforest Lodge offers just that where a unique reserve of 371,000 hectares of rainforest is sustainably managed.
The Iwokrama Canopy Walkway, a main feature of the Lodge, is a series of suspension bridges over the rainforest. It gives visitors the opportunity to experience the rainforest, but also allows wildlife to be relatively free from human intrusion.
Jaguars, monkeys, large spiders, the giant anteater, and many other wildlife are found at Iwokrama Lodge.
According to the Lodge’s manager Udel Ewin, there are eight rooms each with the capacity to accommodate two persons. The offers serene accommodation to all its guests.
The Lodge offers ideal accommodation
However, the main attraction is the Canopy Walkway.
“We would normally offer the short trail walks for our clients for day tours or overnight; it all depends on what they want to do and birding, which is one of our main activities here as well for most of our birders who come,” Ewin said.
She further explained that the short walks are actually through the rainforest. On those trips, visitors can experience Guyana’s wildlife.
“It depends, sometimes you are lucky and you would see animals like a deer, tapir, monkeys, birds – you name them they are here, but actually you have to have the luck to see those things,” she said with a chuckle and noted that they cannot make a promise to persons as to what they might see.
“If you are lucky, you would be able to see them.”
The 150-step stairway
The Iwokrama forest and its research centre are unique, providing a dedicated site in which to test the concept of a truly sustainable forest – where conservation, environmental balance, and economic use can be mutually reinforcing.
Tour guide Tichie Robert revealed that some of the woods we see on buildings in urban communities were sourced from the reserve, among them greenheart, and visitors are given an opportunity to touch the trees which are more than 500 feet tall.
There are also trees producing nuts which pythons will come to eat and wait for small animals to feed on the nuts.
The walk through the forest also allows for persons to see the kapadulla vine, which is a source of water for persons who are trapped in the forest or spend prolonged periods in the jungle.
The walk through the rainforest with Roberts is a priceless experience as he has a wealth of knowledge about the vegetation and animals – none of which are captured.
However, if your aim is the Canopy Walkway, there is a big surprise.
Visitors are shown a winding stairway made of stones.
“We have 150 steps to climb…” he tells visitors as they began the journey to the canopy walkway.
The walkway was built by cooperation between a Canadian conservation group and the local Amerindian community.
It took one month to be constructed and was done in a way that does not harm the trees.
There are four bridges, two short ones and two long ones, with the longest being 154 metres. They are all connected by three platforms.
Traversing the walkway is like walking on a shaking bridge that will collapse at any moment at a height of almost 600 feet and above most of the very tall trees.
However, Roberts assures that the suspension bridges are all safe. He says they are frequently maintained by a crew which was part of the building process.
Fees paid for the trip help to ensure that the Canopy Walkway remains safe at all times. Additionally, Roberts pointed out that even though the walk might be scary for some, it is highly impossible for the ropes on both sides to fail at the same time.
The Iwokrama Canopy Walkway Rainforest Lodge should be a must.
The Lodge also provides meals, coming from the hands of Indigenous cooks.
