Guyana with its rich history and unique blend of cultures, has again attracted the attention of adventurers from the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and will once again be in the spotlight. Ben Major, Project Coordinator/Expedition Leader of the BBC, is in Guyana to do ground work to facilitate a 10 part half hour long series by young explorers who will retrace the footsteps of Sir Walter Raleigh in this part of the world.
Minister of Tourism Industry and Commerce, Manniram Prashad, Wednesday met with Major and Ian Craddock, owner of Bushmaster Tour Operation in Guyana, and endorsed the expedition.
In January to March next year, Major will lead a team of eight young adventurers from the United Kingdom to explore Guyana’s wilderness in an attempt to retrace the footsteps of Sir Walter Raleigh who was in search of the fabled city of gold, ‘El Dorado’.
According to Director of the Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA), Mr. Indranauth Haralsingh, the shooting will be done at several tourist locations, including Waini, Shell Beach, Kaieteur Falls, Surama, and Raleigh’s Peak. He said the team of explorers will journey by boat from Trinidad and Tobago to Guyana, and will sail through the Marwan and Waini Rivers.
Haralsingh added that having young explorers’ fits extremely well into Guyana’s youth marketing strategy, since they are the tourists of the future.
“Sir Walter Raleigh came here in search of the City of Gold and now the world will get a chance to see the true gems of our destination, wildlife, pristine intact rainforest and natural wonders, among others” Haralsingh remarked.
Minister Prashad said while the experience for the explorers will be exciting, the world will be fascinated by Guyana’s scenery. He also noted that the country stands to benefit the most since it would be very costly to have such marketing on the BBC, and so Guyana welcomes such exploration.
“Serious Explorers has a worldwide reach and will give tremendous exposure to Guyana and our pristine forest. This will boost our destination branding as an eco, nature and adventure destination. This type of marketing strategy assists greatly to promote Guyana as the ideal destination for films and documentaries” the minister noted.
He indicated that 300 minutes of air time on the BBC will have a global reach and will put Guyana in the homes and minds of millions of people.

While here, the explorers will be given the opportunity to interact with all nine Amerindian tribes in Guyana as they will be passing through Amerindian communities and will be exposed to their culture, customs and beliefs.
At the end of the jungle expedition the team will also get the opportunity to enjoy a taste of the city.
Major is a retired UK army Officer and has been working with BBC for eight years. This is not his first visit to Guyana. He worked with TREKFORCE in Guyana on projects at Iwokrama and Surama and also made films and documentaries such as “The Lost Land of the Jaguar” and “Extreme Dream”.
He had also coordinated Explore Marco Polo in China and David Livingston in Africa (great 19th century explorers), and now Raleigh in Guyana.