Overland to Kaieteur Falls - Les Chutes Kaieteur

(le français suit l'anglais)

1-loading up the mini-bus in Georgetown-On charge le minibus avec des produits frais

Travelling in Guyana takes stamina and endurance, but it is a true adventure in the wilderness.  We signed up with Rainforest Tours (highly recommended) for the 5-day overland trip to the famous Kaieteur Falls. Aldwyn, our 40ish Amerinidian-Spanish guide, met us at the Georgetown mini-bus park at 7:00 a.m.  He had reserved 3 seats in a mini-bus going to Mahdia, a mining town in the interior, about 350 km from G/T.  Now all mini-buses WAIT until they are full……we waited two hours!!  First for the food supplies stuffed in the back, then finally at 9:15 the last passenger arrived.  Luckily Aldwyn had reserved the front bench as the other passengers were crammed in among the luggage and supplies – 9 in all plus two more picked up half way there!!  

2-the blue mini-bus is ours-waiting for the ferry to cross a river-
notre minibus (en bleu) attendant le traversier

 But we were very lucky as the driver a) did not play loud music, and b) most importantly, drove slowly.  The one road into the interior is paved for the first 150 km then it becomes a dirt road with many potholes and wash-outs.  It has been raining every day for the last month so the road was really bad.
 

3- Downtown Mahdia-le "centre-ville" de Mahdia

It took us 10 hours with only two brief stops to reach our destination, the town of  Mahdia.  What a sad, depressing town in the middle of the bush with gold and diamond mining its main business.  The “main road” was just a series of water-filled huge potholes, deep, red mud everywhere.  Not a pleasant place.

4-the destruction caused by the gold mining in Mahdia; taken from the air-
vue aérienne de l'impact des mines d'or près de Mahdia

A man with a 4x4 was waiting for us and he took us down an even worse road (if you can imagine) one hour to Pamela landing on the Potaro River.  It was now dark, 7:15 p.m. but Captain Dick, a young very polite man, assured us he could steer the boat in the dark!  So we loaded the supplies and us into his boat and he got us safely to our first site in under an hour!  It was now 8:15p.m and raining.  We were hungry and tired.  

5-Aldwyn, our guide, Shirley & Captain Dick
notre guide Aldwyn, Shirley et Dick nos hôtes 

Aldwyn took us to Captain Dick’s house where his wife, a Brazilian named Shirley, cooked us a lovely dinner.  Aldwyn helped us install the hammocks in the covered outside porch and by 9:30 we were in bed!!  

6-morning coffee
le café du matin après une nuit dans le hamac

Sleeping in a hammock is very comfortable.  It comes with a mosquito net so it is quite cozy.  We slept well. 

7-Amatuk Falls along the Potaro River
les chutes Amatuk sur la rivière Poataro

The next day after a brief tour of the small Amatuk falls and after Captain Dick had his boat carried 1 km around the rapids, we took off again up the Potaro River.   

8-portage around the falls
portage pour contourner les chutes

What a quiet river surrounded by the tropical forest, no one around, isolated, alone, wild, gorgeous red blossoms floating on the water from the occasional flowering tree that strikes out at you from the vast greenness of the forest – so many shades of green! 

9-dense forest along the river
vue de la forest équatoriale le long de la rivière

Our next site was Waratuk on the edge of Kaieteur National Park.  Before we arrived, he had Captain Dick drop us off at the opening of a small creek.  We walked for about an hour on an abandoned miner’s trail through the forest.  Now that was an adventure as we had to cross several creeks.  Check out the photo of me CRAWLING across the log!!  What I won’t do for fun!!!  

10-Patricia crossing the log!
Patricia traversant une crique!

11-Aldwyn in the kitchen
Aldwyn dans la cuisine

At Waratuk there is an abandoned forest ranger’s house that Aldwyn once lived in.  He found a way in, cleaned up the mess, and we set up our hammocks inside.  

12-"Bakes" served with beans or saltfish
"beignets" servis avec des beans ou du poisson pour déjeuner

Aldwyn turned out to be a great cook – lots of rice and beans; he even made the traditional “bake” (fried dough cakes) for breakfast. 

 

 We arrived just in time as the rain started coming down in torrents.  And Jean-Claude and I had a WONDERFUL feeling – we were COLD!!! After 7 months, what a real pleasure.  We felt like we were back on the West Coast Trail in British Columbia, Canada – here in Guyana we were in the tropical rain forest, damp, wet; the big difference being that here it is 20 degrees while in Canada it is 10 degrees or less in February!!!  It was camping again!! Yiphee!!

13-view from the house-just like Canada!
vue du balcon: juste comme au Canada

Day 3 we left Waratuk.  Again Captain Dick and his buddy had to carry the boat around the set of rapids (he sure earned his money!!) and we were off again on the Potaro river flowing in the Kaieteur gorge, deeper and deeper into the Guyanese wilderness.  

14-we started the climb from the river below
notre ascencion commence au niveau de la rivière

 After 45 minutes he let us off at Tukiet, an isolated camping site.  There was no place for us to sleep here, so we decided to start the climb up the mountain to the Kaieteur Falls Guest House.  

We started from the river below.  If you look in the upper part of the photo, you'll see "lakes"-this is really the Potaro river after the rapids (Amatuk, Warawuk, Tikyei) so our hike started from the fourth one!!























Normally it takes 2 hours to climb to the 1,500 m plateau, if you are young and fit.  I am fit and 64 with bad knees.  BUT I MADE IT!!!  It took me 4.5 hours but I DID IT!  “slow but sure” has always been my motto.  Aldwyn had cut me a great pair of walking sticks, which really helped.  It was up all the way and around some tricky parts that got my heart going even faster.  The landscape was very similar to the Laurentian shield, in fact this is the Guiana Shield! In the forest it didn’t matter if it rained or not as the foliage is so thick, but I really didn’t see anything – I just kept putting one foot in front of the other, wiping the sweat out of my eyes! By the end I was hobbling from leg cramps…Truly it was a challenge but I am so proud of myself that I did it.  (of course, I had no choice but to do it). 
  Suddenly we leave the forest and arrive on the rock plateau-what a change of landscape! 

15-We made it - Patricia is HOT in the humidity
Enfin on est rendu - Patricia a bien chaud!

16-Kaieteur Falls Guest House
l'auberge du Parc Kaieteur

Another 30 minutes flat walking got us to the guest house which was built for Pierre Trudeau’s visit to Guyana in the 1980’s!  A wooden structure that needs a lot of repair but it was clean and quite comfortable (except for the bugs, lots of mosquitoes and other types unknown and unseen by us but that left big red bites!!!)  Jean-Claude went off to find some beer to celebrate – he had quite the adventure as it turned out the small landing (about 5 “houses” that sell supplies to miners coming into the interior) was 35 minutes away and it started to rain.  He got a lift back in an ATV used by the man who hauls the supplies from the airfield to the landing.  The beers were a real treat.  I had just enough energy left to shower, eat and then to bed at 7:30 p.m.

17-Queensie, the 3 year old daughter of the housekeeper - Arawak Amerindian tribe
Queensie, la petite fille de 3 ans de la responsable du logement - amrindien Arawak

 Day 4..it is COLD here (we are not complaining) – the nights QUIET.  We are all alone on this plateau…there is a house for the 4 forest rangers plus the guest house.  The only way to come here is up the mountain (like we did and not too many do) or by small plane that holds only 6 (tourists do this – they come for only two hours – in and out).  But today the fog was THICK so only one plane arrived when the sun came out from 1 to 3 p.m.  We saw no one except the rangers all the time we were there.  We had lovely conversations with the head warden and the Amerindian lady who looked after the guest house. 
 

18-JC at the top of the falls in the fog
Jean-Claude en haut des chutes dans la brume

 When the sun came out, Aldwyn took us to all the lookouts to view the Kaieteur Falls, “the world’s largest and most powerful single-drop waterfalls (the falls drop 741 ft to the bottom of the gorge, five-times the size of Niagara Falls)”.  It is truly magnificent – what makes it so is the wilderness.  There are no barriers, nothing but small signs asking you to stay 8 ft away from the edge.

19-Kaieteur Falls from Johnson Look-out
les chutes Kaieteur vue du point d'observation Johnson

20-no barriers - at the top of the falls
pas de garde-fou ou de barrière nul-part

21-Jean-Claude at the top of the falls
Jean-Claude en haut des chutes

22-This is what is below him!!!!
en bas de lui 300m. plus bas!!!

23-Cock-of-the-Rock
le fameux "Cock-of-the-Rock"

  Aldwyn showed us where the beautiful endemic Guyanese bird “Cock-of-the-Rock” nests and we saw two of them up close!  Magnificent.  Wonderful dense foliage, orchids, huge bromeliads and the tiny golden frog. 
 

24-huge bromeliads on the Kaieteur Plateau
Bromelias géants sur le plateau des chutes

We rushed back as we saw a huge rainstorm coming down the gorge.  Jean-Claude and I decided to try out our rain ponchos so we sat on a bench on the edge of the gorge watching the falls and thoroughly enjoying the storm as the wind picked up and the rain fell.  It rained all evening – we had only one set of dry clothes left so we had to stay inside.  We read and got eaten by the mosquitoes.  Aldwyn decided to go to the landing to visit his friends…so we were all alone.  We loved it.  He came back around 9p.m.

25-Blue plane is ours
notre avion de retour en bleu

Day 5 we take a last look at the falls and head to the landing strip.  Our small plane arrived at 11:00 and within 30 minutes we were again at Mahdia.  We waited in the hangar for 3 hours as the small plane was kept busy taking machinery and supplies into the mining camps in the wilderness.  They put in an ATV on one trip, a generator on another.  When there were enough passengers (6) we climbed into this very small plane and in 1 hour we were back in G/T, landing in a torrential rain storm.  I used to be terrified of flying, but, Isabelle and Philippe, you would be very proud of me now as I don’t even flinch.  I have learned to trust that everything will be okay.  What a fantastic trip.

26-Guyana is 90% tropical forest - seen from the plane
vue aérienne: le Guyana est couvert de forêt tropicale à 90%

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Les Chutes Kaieteur

Quelle aventure! C’est vraiment le genre de voyage-découverte que nous adorons !

Le tout commence lundi matin vers 7 heures. Nous nous rendons au terminus d’autobus où nous rencontrons notre guide Aldwyn pour la semaine. Ces minibus de longue distance ne quittent que lorsque plein à capacité (15 passagers + tout le cargo qu’ils peuvent prendre). Enfin vers 9h15 nous sommes en route (photos 1 et 2 ci-haut). Notre destination est Mahdia, une ville minière au centre du pays. Nous connaissons déjà cette route que nous avons prise pour notre visite au centre écologique de Iwokrama en novembre. Rien ne s’est amélioré : après une heure de route asphaltée jusqu’à Linden, le reste est une longue succession de trous boueux et cahoteux jusqu’à Madia, 9 heures plus tard ! Enfin nous nous sommes rendus sain et sauf, ce qui est déjà beaucoup (photos 3 et 4). À Mahdia un chauffeur avec son SUV 4X4 nous attendait pour un autre segment de route jusqu’à la rivière Potaro. Il est déjà 19h00 et c’est très noir. Mais sur la rive le capitaine Dick (photo 5) nous attendait avec son petit bateau pour nous amener à notre destination finale de la journée, les chutes Amatuk où nous sommes enfin arrivés vers 20h00. Un souper nous attendait et nous avons passé notre première nuit dans un hamac protégé par un moustiquaire : système ingénieux qui fonctionne très bien. Surprenant mais nous avons bien dormi.

Jour 2 : (photo 6) des chutes Amatuk nous reprenons un plus petit bateau, genre chaloupe à moteur (photos 7, 8, 9 et 10) , jusqu’aux chutes-rapides suivantes Waratuk. Nous sommes en bordure du seul parc national du Guyana, le Parc Kaieteur. Une courte journée où nous couchons dans la maison abandonnée du gardien. Ce soir notre guide nous fait à souper (photo 11), un délicieux Chowmein et nous passons notre deuxième nuit de hamac. SURPRISE !!! Vers 4 heures du matin J’AI FROID !!! Ça c’est quelquechose que je n’ai pas ressenti depuis longtemps.

Jour 3 : (photo 12) En route vers les chutes Kaieteur (photo 13). Un autre court trajet de bateau jusqu’au début de la piste Tukiet où nous commençons notre ascension du bord de la rivière Potaro jusqu’au somment du plateau d’où les chutes se jette à plus de 223m. plus bas (photo 14). Ce fût une ascension difficile pour Patricia avec ses genoux et ses jambes qui n’ont plus la force d’avant ; mais en prenant notre temps nous nous sommes bien rendus jusqu’en haut (photo 15). Une fois sur le plateau en route vers le petit gîte d’accuiel du Parc (photo 16) nous avons notre première vue des chutes : très impressionnant! Souper et dodo de bonne heure cette fois dans un lit avec matelas au lieu du hamac.

Jour 4 : Un matin brumeux et pluvieux (photo 18) où nous prenons notre temps de profiter du calme avec le bruit des chutes à moins de 5 minutes de notre balcon. Vers 11h00 le ciel se dégage et après le lunch nous allons vraiment visiter les différents points de vue d’où l’on peut admirer cette chute majestueuse, une des merveilles (non-officielle) du monde (photos 19 à 22). Vraiment impressionnant et sans aucune entrave d’accès ; pas de barrière ou garde-fou (voir la photo 21 du ‘fou’ juste au bord du gouffre)

Jour 5 : Vendredi et c’est déjà le temps de revenir, cette fois par avion. Vers 11h00 nous montons à bord d’un de ces petits avions de brousse qui nous ramène à Mahdia (photo 25). Nous devons attendre quelques heures pour l’avion suivant vers Georgetown ce qui nous donne la chance de voir beaucoup de transport de cargo de toute sorte par avion vers les camps miniers de la région. Au départ de notre dernier tronçon de vol vers Georgetown on voit les effets dévastateurs de l’exploitation minière de surface autour de Mahdia (photo 4)…c’est pas très joli pour l’environnement mais au pris de l’or actuellement personne ne s’occupe de considérations environnementales. Après une autre heure de vol (photo 26) nous arrivons sain et sauf à Georgetown à travers un orage de pluie tropical.

Un voyage actif plein de découvertes et d’expériences comme nous aimons. Ça valait vraiment la peine.