Kaieteur Falls is better than the Niagara Falls and the Victoria Falls but people visit the latter two more frequently. These were among the comments made by international tourists recently.
However, a process has started to indirectly cause a change for the better in the local tourism industry.
The execution is ongoing via the production of a 90-minute documentary to be shown in cinemas and on televisions around the world but more importantly in Japan and Germany via the BBC. Yesterday, it was confirmed that the many stories, told and untold, about the canopy which envelops the Kaieteur Falls will soon be part of a 90-minute documentary for all the world to see and seek after.
Currently an international team, under the direction of Werner Herzog, is in the process of constructing a helium-driven airship to film, close up, never before seen sights and to document the canopy and the contents there of.
“Over 100 million people will see this majestic wonder, which will spin off into a major boom in tourism,” the philosophical Herzog told media operatives while at the Kaieteur National Park.
“We are not looking at it as a tourism venture but more so from a commercial perspective with natural sounds. The group said that it had several other choices but settled for the Kaieteur area because as the members put it “it is totally unique and powerful to see and will captivate…People will be coming to see and experience this untapped area in droves,” Herzog said. Herzorg past works include the 1971 film “Aguirrre, the Wrath of God” (The Spanish conquest in search of El Dorado) and the 1981 Fitzcarraldo (moving a ship over a mountain).
The film is set for release in the fall according to film producer Annette Scheurich, Chief Executive Officer of Marco Polo Films. She said that it would feature nature at its best including animals and a new perspective to the general phenomenal canopy.
Not wanting to let out the exact cost of the production she indicated, “it costs a lot”. Further, she said, “Once you have such an extreme beauty you might as well pump as much as possible and more into bringing out it’s potential.” Dr. Graham Dorrington, tasked with constructing the ship, said that the purpose of the airship would be to give people a close to the canopy view. According to him “there could be pharmaceuticals.”
He said that it could also open up a whole new area of tourism. But he posited that, the average airship would cost in excess of US$3million.
Minister Manzoor Nadir, who visited the area yesterday with an entourage and members of the media, was afforded a better understanding of the project. He said that Guyana stands to benefit immensely.