Maipaima ecolodge, Nappi Village.

Miriam and I were taken into this fantastic setting seven miles inside of the Kanuku mountain. A easily walkable dirt road connects the village of Nappi to the Eco-lodge. Private bedrooms, a fabulous kitchen, flush toilets, and a river runs around it for constant swimming and bathing. This lodge is open for tourists and is pretty amazing. Using this as a base the rest of the bush is at your feet especially with a local guide. On the one night we stayed here a family of Howler Monkeys strolled by in the tree tops right next door yet 300 feet overhead. I would strongly suggest trying to come to Guyana and stay in the Kanuku Mountains, I have a hard time imagining a better eco-tourist destination. The place has not seen very many visitors and is very remote, yet completely accessible for just about any physical ability. The possibilities of trips farther into the Mountains are spectacular. For more information try: Conservation International, or Foster parrots, or contact the lodge itself at mike_nappi2002@yahoo.uk.co Make sure you go in the dry season though as otherwise the area can be underwater.

Watching the life of the Bush gather in the tree-tops. At dusk the bush comes alive and in the clearing of the Nappi Eco-Lodge the ability to look clearly in a 360 makes for amazing viewing. In the morning sit back and drink coffee, while the Macaws fly by and the Howler Monkeys stroll the heights. This location is ideal to start longer trips into the bush. The Kanuku Mountains are said to have the most species diversity in the country. It would be easy to spend two weeks here relaxing in the clearing during the dusk and dawn and hiking all over the bush during the day.

Miriam picking a ripe Paw-paw from a huge tree growing in the middle of the clearing where the Nappi Eco-lodge is located.

Me on a vine called a monkey ladder. I couldn't resist.

Miriam, Giles and I at the headwaters of Nappi creek in the Kanuku Mountains.

The main living area at Giles farm in the Kanuku mountains. Giles and his family farm at least four different slash and burn small plots in the middle of otherwise dense forest. The plots are of different age and are used on a rotating basis for a number of years and then left to grow back into the bush. Giles used to spend most nights here, but as his children got to school age he moved to a house nearer to the village so that he and not his children would have to walk the five miles or so one way every day.

Miriam walking down the main village road towards the Kanuku mountains. Many of the people of Nappi travel this road a few times a day on foot or by Oxcart( which she is walking behind on the road) to go to their farms in the bush.

Miriam and I in Eleanors back yard. In the background you can see a part of a storage unit that is about the size of a typical house and farther in the background a few other houses spread around the area surrounding the village of Nappi.

Eleanors house on the savannah. In the background are the Kanuku mountains.

Eleanor's house. The kitchen is the structure on the left. Miriam is reclining in one of the hammocks. The dog's name is spot. Water was collected off the metal roof, or brought up in buckets from the hand dug well a little ways off. It rained enough while we where there so that we didn't have to haul any water. But taking bucket baths in the wide open Savannah was a great way to get clean.

The Kitchen of our host/grandmother Eleanor. It is a fantastic space, seperate from the house in a building made of a type of adobe brick and palm roof, it has a huge table and two stoves. The nine children that she raised in this kitchen certainly ate well if they ate anything like we did. I dream of having a kitchen like this one day.

Congo-Nya opening the Rainforest Music Festival in Georgetown during the Cricket World Cup.

Playing on the streets of Georgetown.

Spending the evening inside the compound during the first weekend I spent with Congo-Nya in Georgetown.