Today is planned as an arrival day. Flights to Georgetown, Guyana. International flights usually arrive after dark at the recently renovated Cheddi Jagan International Airport, located 25 miles south of the capital city, Georgetown. You’ll be met at the airport by a representative from our ground agent (who should be carrying a sign with your name/s and “Ron Allicock Travel & Tours” on it) and transferred directly to our comfortable hotel. The journey will take about an hour (it may vary one way or the other, depending on your flight arrival time). If you cannot arrange a flight that arrives before dinner time, we strongly recommend that you plan to arrive for the tour a day early. Those arriving on late flights tonight are unlikely to arrive to the hotel well after midnight and we have a very early (5:00 am) departure tomorrow.

Night at Status Hotel. (No meals catered for on this day)

This morning we’ll leave our hotel at 5:00 AM (having downed a cup or two of caffeine to help us get started!) and heading eastward along the Atlantic coast, we’ll make a few stops to check out the mud flats for Scarlet Ibises as they set out to feed at dawn. We will continue towards the community of Mahaica where we'll take a boat trip along the river. Among our targets will be Guyana’s national bird, the bizarre, primitive Hoatzin, which is found in abundance on this river system. We'll also look for a host of other species including the Rufous Crab Hawk (localized), Black-collared Hawk, Black Hawk-Eagle, Long-winged Harrier, Barred Antshrike, Silvered Antbird, Striped Cuckoo, Little Cuckoo, Green-tailed Jacamar, Blood-coloured Woodpecker, White-bellied Piculet, and Mangrove Cuckoo. Depending on the level of the tide, we may be able to check the shoreline for birds such as Scarlet Ibis, White-rumped Sandpiper, White-cheeked Pintail, Western Sandpipers, Whimbrel, Black-bellied Plovers, Short-billed Dowitcher, Tricolored Heron, Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, Little Blue Heron, Magnificent Frigatebird, Royal, Gull-billed and Least Terns, and Brown Pelican. We will return to our hotel for lunch. During the afternoon, we’ll visit the Georgetown botanical Gardens or the Georgetown National Park to see an array of localized birds in these beautiful environs, the Festive Amazon Blood-colored Woodpecker, White-bellied Piculet, Red-shouldered Macaws and the Toco Toucans are some of the key species that occur in this semi urban habitat. Dinner will be back at the hotel.

Night at Status Intl. Hotel (BLD)

After breakfast at our hotel, we will take a chartered flight over unspoilt pristine forest to Kaieteur Falls, the world’s highest free-falling waterfall. Though Venezuela’s Angel Falls is greater in total height, its filamentous drop occurs by stages, whereas Kaieteur is a single massive, thundering cascade 100 meters wide, created as the Potaro River makes a sheer drop of 228 meters, nearly five times the height of Niagara Falls. The spectacle is even more impressive for its remoteness. It is altogether possible that we’ll be the only persons viewing it. Here, we will hope to find White-chinned and White-tipped Swifts swirling over the gorge, and perhaps we’ll be lucky enough to have our first sighting of the astonishingly colorful Guianan Cock-of-the-Rock and see an Orange-breasted Falcon as it hunts for its favorite prey, the swifts. We should also be able to find the rare and endemic Golden Rocket Frog that lives in water held in the leaves of giant bromeliad plants. Our flight departure time is dependent on the weather conditions.  There will be plenty of bottled water, soda drinks, sandwiches, nuts, and crackers for lunch. Weather willing, after a 2-hour stop at the falls, our flight will continue to Fairview Village where we'll be transferred to Iwokrama River Lodge in the heart of Guyana’s beautiful rainforest. Arriving at the lodge by 3 pm, we'll settle into our accommodations before enjoying a late lunch and prepare for the afternoon birding excursion on the nearby trails. During the late afternoon we will head out on the road before dark to see the White-winged Potoo at they feed at dusk, this species is rare and elusive but we can be sure to find you one.

Night at Iwokrama River Lodge (BLD)

After early breakfast this morning, After lunch we’ll take a short ferry trip across the Essequibo River and head for a large patch of white sand forest on the opposite side. Growth of this poor soil is markedly different from that of the surrounding rainforest trees: Trees here are stunted, shorter and thinner but their growth can be quite dense. This unique habitat offers a variety of white sand specialists, including Black-headed Antbird, Wing-banded Antbird, Grey-winged Trumpeter the Black Manakin, Rufous-crowned Elaenia, Saffron-crested Tyrant Manakin, Pale-bellied Mouner, Bronzy Jacamar, Sapphire-rumped Parrotlet, Lilac-tailed Parrotlet, Black-throated Antbird, Spot-winged Antbird, Double-banded Pygmy Tyrant, Pelzin’s Toddy Tyrant, Red-Shouldered Tanager, Guianan Shiffornis, McConnell’s Flycatcher, Rufous-tailed Flatbill, Plain-crowned Spinetail, Dusky Parrot, Red-fan Parrot, McConnel’s Flycatcher, Blue and Yellow Macaw, found only in this unique habitat of the Guianas, and (with luck) the stunning Guianan Red Cotinga or the even more stunning Crimson Topaz and Red-billed Woodcreeper. We’ll also walk one of the forest trails, with hope of finding an active swarm of army ants leading us to, a Spotted Antpitta, White-plumed Antbird, Rufous-throated Antbird, Amazonian Pygmy-Owl, Black-faced Hawk, Guianan Trogon, Mottled Owl, Crested Owl, Northern Tawny-bellied Screech Owl and the Ladder-tailed Nightjar. We’ll return to the lodge after dark for dinner.

Night at Iwokrama River Lodge (BLD)

This morning, departing River Lodge after an early breakfast, we'll bird on the road along the way to our next destination, the Atta Rainforest Lodge. Some forest birds are very elusive and hard to see, however, this drive will allow us the chance to look for Black Curassow, Grey-winged Trumpeter, Guianan Toucanet, Guianan Red Cotinga, Puprle-breasted, Pompadour, and Spangled Cotingas. Canopy flocks can also produce, Ash-winged Antwren Buff-cheeked Green, Lemon-chested Greenlet, Olive-green Tyrannulet, Zimmers Flatbill, Guianan Tyrannulet, Yellow-throated Flycatcher and Guianan Puffbird, En route we’ll check a roost spot for a long-staying Rufous Potoo, a poorly-known species only rarely seen by birders. We’ll arrive to our lodge in time for lunch. Atta’s hummingbird feeders and pollinator garden should keep us well entertained as we eat, bringing in long-tailed and Reddish Hermit, Black-eared Fairy, Grey-breasted Sabrewing, Forked-tailed Wood-nymph, Racket-tailed Coquet and the magnificent Crimson Topaz. After a bit of a break (which many of us may spend on benches in the lodge clearing, where a host of species can be seen), we’ll bird along the lodge’s drive way as far as the main highway, hoping to run into large mix flocks that sometimes work along the track’s edge. Towards dusk, we’ll hop in our vehicles to drive a bit further along the road. Our target tonight will be Black-banded Owl, though spectacle Owl, Mottled Owl and Blackish Nightjar are also possible.

Night at Atta Rainforest Lodge (BLD)

We’ll have a whole day to bird the Lush Iwokrama Rainforest. Before breakfast, we’ll take a trail out to Atta’s canopy walkway, where we’ll climb the 120+ steps to the towers and spend some time watching for canopy dwellers, if we’re lucky, Todd’s Antwren, Spot-tailed Antwren, Short-tailed Pygmy-Tyrant, Guianan Toucanet, Green Aracari, Painted Parakeet, Caica Parrot, Black-headed Parrot, Guianan Puffbird, Dusky Purpletuft, Paradise Tanager, Opal-rumped Tanager, Golden-sided Euphonia, Purple and Green Honeycreepers, Black-faced Dacnis, Green Aracari, Guianan Toucanet, and Black Nunbird to name a few. After breakfast, we’ll spend the remainder of the morning searching the many remarkable birds that make this area home, Black Curassow, Marail Guan, Waved Woodpecker, Red-necked Woodpecker, Golden-collared Woodpecker and Ringed Woodpecker. This wonderful area is famed for its variety of colorful cotingas and if we can locate a few fruiting trees we will be in for an avian spectacle with possibilities of Pompadour, Purple-breasted, and Guianan Red Cotingas, as well as White Bellbird and the outrageous Crimson Fruitcrow. Gray-winged Trumpeter, Cayenne Jay, Amazonian Barred Woodcreeper, Red-billed Woodcreeper, Ferruginous-backed Antbird are all possibilities here. During the afternoon a short walk will lead us to a small stream crossing where we’ll watch for Rose-breasted Chat, Guianan-streaked Antwren, Crimson Topaz, Black-chinned Antbird, Dusky Antbird, Cinnamon-throated Woodcreeper, and Chapman’s Swift.

Surama Village is known as the raptor haven, with its unique habitats, a small open grassland surrounded by primary tropical rainforest and mountains, your chances here to see the world’s most powerful Eagle or any of the one listed below are highly probable. There are three known active Harpy Eagle nests near the community and are within walking distance of each other. We’ll dedicated this day to seeing the Harpy Eagles at their nesting tree.  A 30-minute drive from Surama Eco-Lodge will bring us to the Harpy Eagle nature trail. We'll walk for an hour on a flat trail through the forest and hope to see the Harpy at their nest.  If they are not there, we will wait for them to return from hunting.  On past trips, we have witnessed the adults bringing in their prey including monkeys, sloths, iguanas, macaws, and the Red-rumped Agouti. There is also a stake out Long-tailed Potoo roost, and Northern Tawny-bellied Screech Owl, White-throated Manakin lek is also visible on the trail, in the canopy you can find Capuchinbird at their lek. This is also a good day to ketch up on some skulkers, Rufous-bellied Antwren, Collared Puffbird, White-crowned Manakin, Cinnamon-crested Spadebill, Scale-backed Antbird, and White-plumed Antbird. We will have lunch at the Surama Junction with our host and chef Madonna Allicock. After our delicious lunch we will return to the lodge.

Night at Surama Eco Lodge (BLD)

This day we have set aside to revisit several areas in order to look for any key species we may have missed. There are several very tricky birds (the understory skulkers) in the area and this added day will help us out enormously. The ferruginous-backed Antbird in one of them. The Burro-Burro River trail is known for reliable sightings of the Rufous-winged Ground Cuckoo, Red-legged, Capuchinbird, Guianan Puffbird, Rufous-bellied Antwren, Rufous-throated Antbird, White-plumed Antbird, Brown-bellied Antwren, Golden-collared Woodpecker, Fiery-tailed Awlbill and Blue-throated Piping Guan. We may even encounter a swarm of army ants which will increase our chance so seeing the rare and elusive Rufous-winged Ground Cuckoo. The grassland around the lodges supports a healthy population of Ocellated Crake, but again much work is required to see this mega. Plain-crested Elaenia, Lesser Elaenia White-naped Xenopsaris and Cayanne Jay are also possible here.

Night at Surama Eco Lodge (BLD)

This morning is called “The Clean Up Campaign” We’ll spend the entire morning birding the environs of Surama Village, as we make our way to Rock View lodge. There are some areas that we will visit to pick up on any birds we may have missed. Possibilities are Ornate Hawk-Eagle nest, Spotted Antpitta, Painted Tody-Flycatcher, Blue-backed Tanager, Guianan Red Cotinga and a number of hummers including the Racket-tailed Coquet and Fiery-tailed Awlbill. Lunch will be served at Surama Junction, during mid afternoon we’ll continue to Rock View Lodge.

Rock View Lodge is located in the Northern Rupununi savannas and is flanked by the Pakaraima and Kanuku Mountain ranges, further east the majestic Makarapan and Iwokrama Mountains is an obvious sight in the distance. This habitat is an extensive flatland that projects south to the border with Brazil. It hosts extensive tropical grasslands and areas with scattered trees (savanna) as well as shrubs and scrubby vegetation. At dusk, we’ll look for Nacunda, Least and Lesser night Hawks. Before dinner you will be treated with a traditional, drinks “alcohol and none alcohol” during the checklist. This is on the house.

Night at Rock View Lodge (BLD)

This morning we’ll have an early breakfast before heading out for a 15-minute drive to the Rupununi River for a boating trip. The Rupununi River is unique in many ways as it supports both the Guianan and Amazonian species. We have added this day to look for the elusive Crestless Curassow “usually heard more that seen” The Agami Heron, Sungrebe, Sunbittern, Amazonian Black-Tyrant and Rusty-breasted Nunlet. We’ll visit some Oxbow Lakes, “the ones that are accessible” these lakes are usually crammed with the Giant Water Lilly and the Giant River Otters are almost always present. After a good morning of birding on the rivers and lakes, we’ll enjoy lunch back at our lodge. During the afternoon, birding will be done around the environs of the property before doing the checklist and dinner.

Night at Rock View Lodge (BLD)

This morning will again find us early in our 4x4 ‘s driving through this unique habitat on our quest to see the endangered Sun Parakeets. However, ecologically speaking, this area is part of a series of savannas separating the forest of two immense biomes, the Orinoquian and the Amazonian. Despite its apparent homogeneity, there are various microhabitats where highly specialized birds are found. For this reason, we will invest our morning checking wetlands and scrubby vegetation where we might come across a Pinnated Bittern in the muddy bank of a pond while in tall grasses we may find the cute Bearded Tachuri and Crested Doradito. In the meantime, the White-tailed Goldenthroat (hummingbird) could be seen visiting flowering plants near or inside shallow wetlands while the widespread Burrowing Owl will be standing in areas that never get flooded. We will also explore the short seasonal grasses for pairs of Buff-necked Ibis or the dull Yellowish Pipit that may be singing there. Apart from the birds, this extensive area will be a good bet to look for the Giant Anteater. Other open country birds we might come across include Aplomado Falcon, Pearl Kite, White-tailed Hawk, Double-striped Thick-Knee, Maguari Stork, Azure Gallinule and Jabiru

After a good morning of open country birding, we’ll continue on to the village of Karasabai, an Amerindian village in the foothills of the Pacaraimas where the astonishingly beautiful Sun Parakeet is found. This area is a good example of a bird conservation project hosted by a local community. Once almost wiped-out of the region by intense trapping for the pet trade, the population of the parakeet has begun to rebound under the protection of the Karasabai community. We are likely to spend some time learning from the local community about this successful conservation program. We will also look for distinctive subspecies of the White-bellied Piculet and Yellow-hooded Blackbird, which may soon be elevated to full species status, Hooded Siskin, Toco Toucan and ferruginous Pygmy-Owl are also present. After lunch, at the village we will bird our way back across the savannas to Manari Ranch, near the out skirts of Lethem looking for open country birds. The drive will likely to take all afternoon, but in the comfort of Manari Ranch, we will relax and enjoy an early dinner.

Night at Manari Ranch (BLD)

This morning in the field will again find us on the road before dawn, driving to a dry scrub forest along the Takutu and Iring rivers, which form Guyana’s southwestern boundary with Brazil. Our target species will be two poorly known and very local endemic species: Hoary-throated Spinetail and Rio Branco Antbird. Another possibility is the spritely Chestnut-vented Conebill, which travels in small but active groups through the riverine forest. We will also look for Crestless Curassow (can be difficult to locate), Pearl Kite, Aplomado Falcon, Rufous-tailed Jacamar, White-throated Kingbird and Flavescent Warbler. Lunch will be at Manari before leaving for Wichabai Ranch in Southern Rupununi.

This afternoon we’ll be back in our 4x4’s vehicle/s ready for a drive that is Roughly 90km southeast of Lethem the drive will take us about 3 hours depending on what we see along the way. The road is actually a traffic-less sand track meandering across the hilly savannahs with ample opportunities for spontaneous bird watching stops. We can scan numerous wetland areas for Maguari Stork, Brazilian Teal, White-tailed Hawk and Double-striped thick-knee, plus Bearded Tachuri. Along the way we pass the Amerindian communities of St. Ignatius and Shulinab where the traditional homes and lifestyles of Amerindian Guyana are on display and remind us just how far we’ve come. We will meet one of our local guides who have been studying the rare and localized Red Siskin a bird only discovered in Guyana in 2000.The Red Siskin, Pale-bellied Tyrant Manakin and Sharp-tailed Ibis are much sought after species by birders so our efforts will be concentrated on seeing these special birds, although many other species will be seen on our quest. In the surrounding areas we could find, Point-tailed Palmcreeper, Little Chachalaca, Black-collared Hawk, Amazonian Scrub Flycatcher, Plain-crested Elaenia, Pale-tipped Inezia, Brown-crested Flycatcher, White-naped Xenopsaris, Burnished Buff Tanager, Rufous-browed Peppershrike, Tropical Gnatcatcher, Glittering-throated Emerald, Ashy-headed Greenlet, Hooded Tanager, Vermilion Flycatcher and Flavescent Warbler. We plan to arrive just before dart at the new and comfortable Wichabai Ranch.

            Night at Wichabai Ranch (D)

Today our plan is to visit siskin habitat on the community lands of two villages—Sandcreek and Rupunau—near the foothills of the Kanuku Mountains Protected Area. For this effort, we will leave the lodge before dawn and drive to the community of Sandcreek. Here, we plan to visit some of the roosting sites of the siskin, where we might see individuals in adult male and adult female plumages, as well as subadults and possibly juveniles. Along the road there will be chances for a range of other birds including Yellowish Pipit, Crested Bobwhite, Zone-tailed Hawk, White-tailed Hawk, Buff-necked Ibis and also the rare but localized Sharp-tailed Ibis. Likewise, we might come across Plumbeous, Gray, Ruddy-breasted and Yellow-bellied seedeaters. Rufous-winged Antwren in the canopy of the forest edge is also possible.

Once we are satisfied with the siskin experience, we’ll head back for lunch, before continuing our journey back to Manari Ranch. On the way back we should be able to pick up on some other species and these might include Red-bellied and Red-shouldered macaws, Pale-bellied Tyrant-Manakin, White-barred Piculet, Pale-eyed Pygmy-Tyrant and Finsch´s Euphonia. We will be traveling through the heart of the Giant Anteater territory, which feasts at the termite mounds that dot the landscape. We will then make the return drive to Manari Ranch for the night.

Night at Manari Ranch (BLD)

Our last morning before dawn, we will be birding the environs of Manari Ranch, where Lowland Hepatic Tanager, Green-rumped Parrotlet, Brown-throated Parakeet, Little and Spot-breasted Woodpecker, White-throated Kingbird and in the nearby river chances for the Sungrebe. This will wrap up our bird Guianan Shield birding expedition. Lunch will be at Manari followed by a short 20-minute drive to Lethem where we will catch the one-hour commercial flight to Georgetown. This flight will land at the small airport, our car/van will pick you up on time and you will be taken straight to a private hospital lab, where you will have your Antigen test done for Covid-19 this is a requirement. Once you had you test done Our driver/staff will take you to your hotel for the final dinner together. The hospital will call our driver/guide to uplift the results and take it to you at your hotel in time before your departure.

Night at Status International Hotel (BLD)

Depending on the timing of your international flight, we’ll arrange for your airport transfer in good time for check-in. Please remind us of your timings. A group transfer will be easier but, participants leaving on different flights we will be able to arrange that transfer as well.