Guyana 's potential for expansion encouraging
- U.S. birding tour operator
Kaieteur News
March 22, 2007
Field Guides, an international tour operator specializing in worldwide birdwatching trips, recently completed its first group tour to Guyana in ten years.
Encouraged by marketing support from the Birding Tourism Program initiated by the Guyana Tourism
Authority (GTA) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) /
Guyana Trade and Investment Support (GTIS) project, Field Guides introduced a new outing
in 2007 combining birdwatching excursions in Guyana and Suriname .
The seven participants from the United States , Canada and Denmark spent nine days in
Guyana , including stops at Kaieteur Falls , Iwokrama Field Station, Iwokrama Canopy
Walkway, Surama Village , Rock View Lodge and Georgetown .
The group was led by Bret Whitney, one of the co-founders of Field Guides and an experienced guide who has discovered several new species in South America and Madagascar .
Whitney had many positive things to say about Guyana , noting that the country has “friendly
people, tremendous preserved areas, and spectacular places to visit” for birdwatching. He
expressed an interest in seeing more of the interior in the future, indicating that there are “lots
of possibilities to expand what we [Field Guides] do in Guyana .”
The participants, all of whom were first-time visitors to Guyana , were equally impressed with
the nearly 400 species of birds that they were able to identify on the trip.
Highlights included the Blood-coloured Woodpecker, Blue-throated Piping Guan, Crimson Fruitcrow, Dusky Purpletuft, Grey-winged Trumpeter and a wide variety of parrots, including Red-and-green,
Blue-and-yellow and Scarlet Macaws.
Founded in 1985, Field Guides offers more than 120 tours to popular birding destinations
throughout the world. Based on the success of this visit, the company is considering a return
visit to Guyana for 2009.
The Birding Tourism Program is receiving support from GTIS, a joint project of the
Government of Guyana and the United States Agency for International Development