By Vishani Ragobeer
As a part of the Tourism Month celebrations in Guyana for the month of November, the Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA) treated a few media personnel to trips within Guyana in an

attempt to promote- Destination: GUYANA.
So in exchange for a day-long trip up the Essequibo River where I visited Old Dutch forts, a pretty beach, a mining town, a fancy resort, and a really cool but dangerous waterfall, here I am recounting my virgin travel experience to you.

In the beginning, I was seated in a bus with about 12 other random people all excited for the trip while I had absolutely no clue where I was going except that I was going on a tour “up the Essequibo River” and that I might be visiting Fort Island and Fort Kyk-over-al.
We travelled over to West Demerara, and here I was expecting to arrive at the Parika stelling but the driver decided to make a detour and we ended up at ‘Roed- en- Rust’.
Guess who was unaware that there was even such a place, let alone be outfitted with its own stelling and a fleet of ‘jet boats’ (bigger, enclosed speedboats).

When I got into the jet boat, our captain and tour guide, Vincent said that our first stop would be at Fort Island which was just 15 minutes away. During this time he elaborated that the Essequibo accommodates more that 300 islands and spans about 630 miles in length. He also explained that the first island that we passed was Hog Island and that was the largest island in the Essequibo River- large enough to encompass Barbados a few times. Pretty cool, right?

• Fort Island:
When Fort Island was in sight, I immediately recognized the clay brick structure as Fort Zeelandia and its cannons overlooking the river. As a Social-studies and Caribbean History student, I read about Fort Island and Fort Zeelandia, but this place was so much more than I expected.

First of all, the island wasn’t just a tourist attraction, it was a community filled with people happily residing here unbothered by the busy city life. There were even special facilities here such as a health centre, a nursery and primary school and more houses than I ever imagined- all catering for the population of about 100.

On the path to Fort Zeelandia, I got insight about living life on this island when I saw the daughter of the island’s medic cutting a sugar-cane and a young man and his father fishing in the trenches.

At Fort Zeelandia itself however, I busied myself with taking lots of photos and I decided to ‘explore’ the Fort. Inside the fort, there were holes where I assumed were once peepholes for oncoming enemy ships and spaces to position the cannons to attack these enemy ships. It was pretty cool imagining a battle way back then around 1744 when it this fort was constructed, but I didn’t have too much time to entertain my imaginative thoughts because the pungent smell of bat guano was getting to me.

On the opposite side of the island, was the Court of Policy which was once a facility that sold slaves, a court and a church. Now, it has been transformed into a Dutch historical museum and has three tombs of two Dutch officials and an infant.
GTA President Indranauth Haralsingh,who accompanied us on this trip, highlighted that about

80- 90 persons visited the island every Saturday and Sunday as a part of the Tourism month activities.

• Saxacalli Beach:
After we left Fort Island, I found myself surrounded by an endless amount of water spotted with the green shades of the many islands. Vincent told us that we would be stopping at Saxacalli Beach next to stretch our legs for a bit.
Saxacalli is actually an Arawak settlement but the beach is frequented because of its seclusion and breath-taking beauty. I say beauty as a vast understatement because the view was just so much more. Imagine the murky waters of the Essequibo river washing the mildly golden sand of the beach and then the surrounding lush green trees with a single yellow- flowered tree in their midst.
My short-lived experience on the beach ended with a few other tourists playing hop-scotch on the beach while a few of us scribed our names in the sand.

• Bartica:
I left Saxacalli not knowing where I was heading to next. Now imagine my surprise when I found out that I was heading to Bartica. That’s right- the little city girl, heading to the ‘Gateway of the Interior’.
Upon arrival at the Bartica stelling, Vincent told us that due to our schedule, we could only spend about 30 minutes here.

Naturally, I walked around the immediate area after the stelling taking photos and observing the newly-established ‘town’. I guess the GTA president had other plans for us media folk however; plans that would soon cost us.
He took us to ‘Palm Spring’ Hotel in Bartica, because this hotel had copped the award for Tourism Investment at the 2016 Tourism Awards Ceremony which was held just the night before my trip.

While at Palm Spring we decided to speak with the owner Ramcharan Boodhoo and his reputed wife, Rehana Rahim and peruse the entire facility. We were also refreshed with a few light beverages.
Alas! 30 minutes at Bartica became about an hour and soon calls from our boat-mates were made demanding our return. Subtly put, when we arrived back at our boat, we were rebuked for our tardiness.

• Aruwai:
Honestly, I feel the only reason we were told off for being tardy back in Bartica was that it meant less time at Aruwai. Yes, I said Aruwai.
Guess who also had no clue they were going to end up at Aruwai for lunch. Surprise! It was me!
We had our lunch and we were allowed to use the pools. But you know, since I had no clue I was gonna be here, I didn’t pack extra clothes. So while most people were off enjoying themselves in and around the pool, I spent my time exploring the resort.

I managed to climb up to the highest corridor (truthfully, I don’t know if I was allowed to do this) and I just admired the view. Aruwai took up an entire island and was surrounded by other islands but perhaps the most interesting part of being here was the weather.
The mid-afternoon sun was beating down, but somehow the rain was also pouring. I’ve seen this happen before, but here it was happening so often at short intervals. It was… magical?

• Baracari:
We left Aruwai and had one last stop to make. We were visiting Baracari, a waterfall I never knew existed but one I will never forget. Did I mention that both Aruwai and Baracari were south-west of Bartica and were located at the confluence of the Cuyuni, Mazaruni and Essequibo rivers?

Baracari happened to be one of the islands across from Aruwai but to get to the waterfall a lot of intensive trekking had to be done.
There was a short uphill climb that was required before arriving at a stream. For someone susceptible to being clumsy, crossing this stream was a herculean task because it required exceptional talent to skip across a few wet rocks in the stream without falling. Luckily for me, I didn’t fall… at least not as yet.

After few more minutes of trekking in a marshy area however, I finally heard the sound of cascading water- the waterfall. Turns out the cascading water and I had something in common… we were both fond of falling. Let me explain.
When I arrived at the falls, I noticed it was a pretty short falls, about 10/15 feet in height and everyone was rushing to get as close to the falls as possible to take out their photos. But I was always an ambitious youth so I decided to climb to the top of the falls (there was a concrete staircase to the right of the falls).

But no, my ambition did not stop there. I decided to step over onto the top of the falls itself (mind you, the rain was falling at this point) but to get there I had to leap over some wet rocks. Here I believe I learned that you must never jump across wet rocks, covered in running water while the rain is falling. Why? Because the rain and the water wouldn’t be the only things falling.

With a bruised knee I left Baracari and we all headed back to Roed-en-Rust. I’d like to end by saying that we had an uneventful boat-ride back, but no boating trip would be complete without a little mal-functioning.
About 10 minutes after we left Baracari, Vincent stopped the jetboat and went to the back to inspect the engines. I wasn’t the least bit worried until Vincent asked his helper for a ‘spanner ’and his relied by saying that they didn’t have one. I got a little worried here, but I didn’t let it show. Soon enough our boat was fully functional again and we journeyed back to Roed-en-Rust.

On this journey back, many persons slept away because of the overwhelming experience of Guyana in just one day while others found it difficult to control their bladder motions but we all made it back safe and sound and the rest is history.
This trip up the Essequibo opened my eyes to the raw beauty of my country and its untapped potential. Permit me to say that although I haven’t travelled many places, there is one thing I can attest to- GUYANA NICE BAD!