Leaving Karanambu

One last look at the Giant River Otter cubs

And a Thank You, to Diane and to Andrea & Salvadore (below)

We load, one last time, into the  boats - Marilynn, Martin, Elaine, Clif; Kenneth driving the boat and Salvador on shore

Down the Rupununi to Ginep Landing, birding along the way, but we're a little behind schedule so we don't dawdle much.  We're about 1 1/2 hours on the river at a good speed.

Where we are met by Ron, Milner and drivers from Surama village

It was a two hour drive to Surama - the distance probably wasn't all that far, but the road was full of potholes.  The road is the main thoroughfare from Georgetown on the coast to Lethem and into Brazil. 

We made a pit-stop at The Oasis.  Oh my, I bought a Coke.  I dearly wanted a bag of chips or something junk-foodie, but no.  Dang, this is a healthy country!

We would be back at The Oasis to walk, no climb, that Panorama Nature Trail in a few days.  In the meantime, on to Surama. 

Why not visit Andrea & Salvadore's blog  at http://theadventuresofandreasalvador.blogspot.com/

Diane McTurk & Her Orphaned Giant River Otters

Giant waterlilies, old jeeps, and terrific birding aside, the heart and soul of Karanambu is Diane McTurk.  And, her heart and soul belong to her beloved Giant River Otters.

Diane (pronounced  DEE-ann) spent her childhood at Karanambu, the cattle ranch established by her father, Tiny McTurk.  As she related, she "ran naked in paradise".  Like most British Colonial children of the time, she was sent to school in England.  In the mid-1970s, she returned to Guyana full-time, took over Karanambu with the intent to earn enough money to keep the ranch operational by inviting tourists to come stay. 

Shortly after, Diane began rescuing, raising and rehabilitating orphaned otters.  Some have been released into their wild river habitat.  The ones that were not have found excellent homes in zoos in the US and elsewhere.

These are the two 1 year olds, currently in residence.  Visit Andrea & Salvadore's blog (link below) to read about the raising of these two cuties.

The Giant River Otter (Pteronura brasiliensis)  is found only in the rivers and creeks of the Amazon, Orinoco and LaPlata river systems in South America.  It is the world's largest otter reaching 1.8 m in length.    

They have webbed feet and water-repellent fur.  Their nostrils and ears close tightly when in the water. 

They swim by flexing their long bodies and propelling with their tails.

Each animal eats 3-4 kg of food per day. 

Red-bellied Piranha.  mmmmmm ummmmm good...

Sharp teeth!   They like to bite toes.

This young fellow is one of the fishermen and caretakers of the otters.  He's been out fishing for their supper. 

The small reddish ones are Red-bellied Piranha.  The larger are Butterfly Peacock Bass (Chichla orinocensis)

The Giant River Otters are highly endangered due to hunting and habitat loss.  They are the rarest otters in the world, with only a few thousand left in the wild.

Diane McTurk - a very beautiful and inspiring woman.

The Karanambu Trust:  http://www.karanambutrust.org/
Andrea & Salvadore's blog:  http://theadventuresofandreasalvador.blogspot.com/
Dr. Lucy's blog:  http://savingotters.wildlifedirect.org/
Otter facts from:  http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/giant-river-otter/

The Jeeps of Karanambu

I have a very soft spot in my heart for ancient vehicles still in use - and this scenario usually plays out at a farm or ranch.  I grew up on a farm here in Saskatchewan.  We had an old truck.  It belonged to my dad's Uncle Tom (who was, by far, my favourite person in all the world).

Uncle Tom's truck was an International Harvester circa 1930, I suppose.  Who knows what the original colour was - it was a matte purple by my generation. 

There was a starter on the floor, and a long stick shift; the green leather seats were worn and cracked.  Everything rattled; talking to any one in the truck was impossible while hurtling down a field road.  

My sister and I, most of our cousins, and even a few of my friends learned to drive in Uncle Tom's truck.

So,  when I saw the jeeps at Karanambu, it was love at first sight. 

I pulled a butt muscle while out birding so I got to ride in the front seat!  I really didn't step off that log wrongly on purpose.  As you can see, the steering wheel is on the righthand side.  Guyana, formerly British Guyana, drives on the right, as does Trinidad.   Correction:  drives on the left side of the road, with rightside steering wheel/controls in the vehicle

  

This is the older jeep, getting a bit of work done.  Both vehicles are needed especially during the long rainy season when the lodge and living quarters become an island.  One jeep is kept on each side of the water.  



And just because my bro-in-law would want to know this, (Morning, Gene) in both Guyana and Trinidad, the vehicles are all Japanese-made.  Nissan seemed to be the most popular, with Toyota in second spot.  Many Mazdas and Suzukis, too.  I asked one of my drivers in Trinidad about this.  He said used vehicles are brought over from Japan - where they also drive on that side of the road.  (Such a good thing I wasn't required to do any of the driving anywhere!)

Giant Waterlillies

Late in the afternoon, the first day we were at Karanambu, we did a bit of birding as we walked down to the river (Rupununi).  Then, we climbed into boats for a slow cruise upstream to Buffalo Pond to see the Giant Waterlilies opening.  The pond is accessed  via a tiny stream. 

This place is stunning.  Lily pads cover almost the entire surface of this small, shallow oxbow lake.  The air is filled with a light, sweet, fragrance of the lilies.  

It's a quiet place.  We drifted through the lily pads.  Our guide picked this bud for our boat to sit beside to watch open as dusk moved in.    The flowers take about 45 minutes to fully open.

The Giant Waterlily   Victoria amazonica  is found in ponds and oxbow lakes in the Amazon Basin, the Guianas and the Pantanal of Brazil. 

The pads grow to 2 to 2.5 meters across.  The flowers, when fully open, are about the size of dinner plates. 

There were other things going on at Buffalo Pond.  In fact, the place was quietly busy with several species of heron (Capped, Striated, Boat-billed, Black-crowned Night-) and egrets (Snowy, Great, Cocoi). 

Wood Storks flew over.  One landed at the top of a distant tree and stayed there as the sunset progressed to darkness. 

Black-collared and Great Black Hawks lurked in the trees at the water's edge. 

There were also 4-5 Giant River Otters popping their heads up beside distant lily pads.  Our guide Kenneth pointed out their den in the bank at the root of a big tree.  We didn't see them slip in there for the night, though.  

Wattled Jacanas (Jacana jacana) were the predominant marsh bird at the pond.  This is a male, who was quite agitated that our boat continued to hang around his nest as darkness fell.  He wanted to sit on the eggs, but was leary of us so near.  (Jacana males incubate the eggs and raise the chicks).  David Attenborough calls this bird the Lily Trotter.

The life cycle of these lilies is interesting.  The first evening the flower opens, it is white and is a female flower exuding a strong, sweet fragrance that attracts beetles.  The flower stays open all night and closes by morning, trapping some beetles inside the tightly closed petals.  The second evening, the flower re-opens,  transformed into a pink, scentless male flower.  The formerly trapped beetles are released, now coated with pollen, to go visit a newly opening female flower, etc. etc.  The flower closes up after the second night and sinks to the pond bottom to develop and germinate a new seed.

Okay, so I don't know how to use my camera settings well enough to get a decent low-light shot.  Maybe Martin has one he'll send me - if so, I'll throw it in here later.

Watch a giant waterlily open (twice) and hear David Attenborough talk about the life cycle of this beautiful plant (from his series The Private Life of Plants).  This vid is about 4 minutes long. 



There was a downside to this lovely evening.  I was sneakily attacked by some type of no-see-ums as we sat on the lake (so was Martin).  I was wearing a short-sleeved shirt.  My arms were a mass of itching, stinging, swelling pustules by the time we got back to the lodge.  The itching would continue for the entire trip.  There's always something, isn't there.

Going to Karanambu

After Arrowpoint we headed back through Georgetown to the old airport, Ogle International,

And after a suitable amount of time, we climbed into this airplane

Packed in like sardines, that's the aisle between Clif and I



One of Martin's photos, thanks.

 We're Up

A view of residential Georgetown, the Atlantic Ocean and a haze of smog

Rice paddies and whatever else.  The Dutch settled this area first - and we all know how much they like to build canals.  They are needed here, as Georgetown is a meter or so below sea level.  A seawall protects the city (unless in a terrific high tide, which happened earlier in 2010 - the seawall is being raised, work was going on when we were there).

A mining operation leaving a nasty scar on the landscape.  Guyana has gold and bauxite.  This one is likely gold.

The interior is a glorious, vast pristine forest.  There's a single flowering tree down there.

A savanna-type landscape below, I wonder if we're getting close to Karanambu?

Yes, that looks like a landing strip.

It is.

We are here.  Elaine is happy and Roy is making sure his camera gear gets off the plane.

Martin is watching the plane take off again.  That's Jerry, one of the ranch staff

And here's our ride.  That's a circa 1956 Jeep.  There's another even older one at the ranch.  (Note the Hoatzin painted on the plane's tail)

Karanambu Savanna

Visit the Karanambu website at http://karanambu.com/
The Karanambu Trust website at http://www.karanambutrust.org/
And Andrea & Salvadore's blog which is also listed on the right side of my blog under Blogs and Interesting Sites  http://theadventuresofandreasalvador.blogspot.com/