Magic at Lake Mainstay
–    Tourism Mecca in Guyana
GUYANA IS God’s own country – a veritable Paradise; and the county of Essequibo is its adorning crown, bejewelled richer than the resplendent coronet of a reigning monarch. Set within this diadem is a superlative work of man and nature and a gem of exquisite beauty – the Lake Mainstay Resort. I fall in love with Essequibo all over again anytime I have occasion to visit, whether I travel by air or land. Guyana’s forest canopy blanketing the earth and its denizens protectively like a multi-hued emerald-shaded blanket adorned with an occasional red or golden highlight, silvern streams and rivulets winding their lazy ways, meandering like adventurous wanderers, and rustic trails snaking into the mysterious jungles are a nature lover’s dream.
Travelling by land, however, is the ultimate experience, whereby the rapid transformational changes in the development landscape of the country and the private and/or public investment dynamics that are almost miraculous – many appearing, as they are, almost overnight, and providing an ideal example of a perfect blend of man and nature co-existing harmoniously in conjunctive accord.
Fruits hang in various ripening stages like brilliant jewels in emerald settings; and even the slumberingly peaceful animals seem to have appended themselves to this pact between man and nature to create and sustain this melody of a morning raga in this stunning beauty that was once the Cinderella county of Guyana; but which has now assumed its rightful place as the Crown Princess of El Dorado.
Throughout the relatively long overland drive, although every specie of local domestic animal dotted the fields, the only animals on the roadway were some cows that were considerately using the pedestrian crossing – all by themselves (Chevon Singh would bear me out on this amazing phenomenon).
As I mentioned in an earlier article, I love to traverse Guyana’s sapodilla brown waterways, whether they are made turbulent by Fairmaids and seafolk frolicking beneath the waves, or whether the surface is shining like the reflective face of a mirror, because I am enthralled by the riverspray in my face, the wind in my hair, and the Hinterland experience up close and personal.
The secluded farming homesteads, sitting in solitary rustic beauty amidst burgeoning croplands, or golden fields of ripening paddy, gives one a sense of peace and tranquility that can never be achieved in a township.
The Mainstay/Whyaka indigenous community exudes an ambience of space and timelessness and, although its development is a work in progress, it is not difficult to envision its future synchronization with the progress of coastland communities; while yet retaining its natural environmental charm and the friendly simplicity of its people – an amalgam of the best of both worlds.
Despite the rutted track that is slowly (in stages) being converted into an all-weather road, the vehicles made good time and soon rolled to a stop in one of the most beauteous man-made and nature-carved tourist destinations in Guyana.
The late President LFS Burnham was a sybarite.  He had an unparalleled eye for beauty, and a superb taste for the finer things in life that was near-legendary.
The Lake Mainstay complex was his vision of the ideal getaway/holiday home-away-from-home, where Government officials and other elitist functionaries in the PNC administrative construct, as well as their friends and families could retreat for rest, relaxation and recreation.
However, Burnham died before the completion and commissioning of this holiday complex and no-one else had the zeal to revive efforts to complete the project which, even at that stage, was a massive undertaking; so the project was abandoned and the site was reclaimed by the jungle.
Until the change of government in 1992 heralded the dawn of a new era and propulsion of a dynamic that precipitated the repressive configurations being lifted, proportionate to the debt-reduction and developmental dynamics in the country:  Then five visionary entrepreneurs recognized the potential inherent is this venue as a site that could drive an emerging tourism industry and catalyse Guyana into becoming the eco/agro-tourism Mecca of the world.
Wilfred Jagnarine and his co-investors had looked beyond the daunting resuscitation synergies and had visualized the potential for what they named the Lake Mainstary Resort to become the quintessential holiday venue in Guyana; so they leased the site in November of 1997 as the Demerara Investment Company and embarked on an amazing journey of reconstruction.
But they first had to wrest the site back from the jungle, which jealously yielded the treasures – cabin by cabin, until the entire area had been cleared.
Termites, weather-induced decay and pilferers had denuded the buildings of everything except the most basic parts of the structures, which all had as their basic construction material the highly-resilient and naturally-beautiful claybricks from the Chinese-established Bel-lu claybrick factory.  It was indeed a mammoth undertaking requiring mind-boggling effort and immense expenditure to re-develop the area and re-construct the buildings.
However, the partners prevailed in a feat of endurance that eventuated into the gem that is the lake Mainstay Resort today.