Kaiteur Falls

The following weekend after a busy few days at work we were off again. My line manager was generous and let me have two days off so that we could take advantage of a special offer to hike to, and up, the Kaieteur Falls which have the longest single drop in the world three times that of Niagara so we are told, 721 feet. It was a four day trek and not too strenuous. Good preparation for Macchu Picchu though.
We were so lucky as Rainforest Tours did a 'special' for us as Mick had been bugging them so much and we had been unable to go on a previously arranged 5 day tour. It fit really well with the needs of a couple of Canadian medical students from McMaster doing their gynocological and obstetrics placement at the Public Hospital here. Here they are, Kathleen and Sarah, with Mick and Anthony, our guide. They were delightful company. We saw so many things including a number of beautiful rapids, waterfalls and rivers. We went by boat as well as hiking as you see Mick doing across the little river. Anthony made us hiking sticks from the hard wood trees, Micks was from the Yarri Yarri tree! We slept in hammocks outside, hiked up 'Oh My God 1 and 2 !" (That's what the steep ascents to Kaieteur are called), slipped on rocks, tripped over roots, saw the magnificent red Cock of the Rock, only seen in this area, plus of course loads of other beautiful birds, saw the tiny Golden frog which is poisenous and hides in the depths of the the huge bromelaides in the area. Saw the small but deadly Labarira snake, carnivorous plants, gold and diamond workings in the forest............................. and generally considered ourselves very lucky to have had the opportunity.
It was an exhilerating weekend finishing with a flight back to G/T in a tiny plane from which we could see the miles and miles of amazonian forest and the winding cafe au lait rivers and as we got closer, the sugar fields of Guysuco and of course the brand new cricket stadium for the World Cup of Cricket.
It is taking so long today to do these blogs that I'll stop there and hope that it is faster next opportunity I get to write.