The savannah
Open grass to the horizon.
Kevin Gabbert - User: (WT-shared) Kevin James at wts wikivoyage — Public domain · Treez44est — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Jonathan Wilkins — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Ivan Mangal — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), David Mansell-Moullin, Organisation des Nations Unies pour l'alimentation et l'agriculture (FAO), Ernährungs- und Landwirtschaftsorganisa — CC BY 4.0 · Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), David Mansell-Moullin, Organisation des Nations Unies pour l'alimentation et l'agriculture (FAO), Ernährungs- und Landwirtschaftsorganisa — CC BY 4.0
The Rupununi is a region in south-west Guyana on the border of the Brazilian Amazon, with wide open grass savannah, the green Kanuku Mountains rising above it with cloud on their peaks, and the Rupununi River winding through forest. The region's name comes from rapon in the Macushi language, the whistling duck found on the river. The Rupununi River rises in the Kanuku Mountains and flows into the Essequibo, and in the flood season it links with the Amazon basin. The region covers about 57,750 square km with over 80 villages, most of its people living in the savannah. You travel dirt roads through grass and scattered trees, with blue mountains on the horizon. The river has wooden boats and water birds. In the evening the sky changes colour over the savannah. The area has lodges and ranches that take visitors. Lethem is on the Brazilian border, about 46 km from the Kanuku Mountains, reached by plane from Georgetown or a long dirt road. Walking is free, and tours cost extra. It is very hot in the dry season.
Open grass to the horizon.
Cloud on the peaks.
Boats and birds.
South-west Guyana, around Lethem and the Kanuku Mountains
By plane from Georgetown to Lethem, or by road.
At lodges and ranches that host visitors.