Guyana – Amatuk Falls to Kaieteur Falls
We awoke at 6:30 the next morning to find out gear nice and dry. Well, as dry as expected in this crazy humid climate. We packed our bags and we’re on the river with Jeff by 7:30. In about 50 min we reached Waratuk falls. Amatuk and Waratuk falls are pretty minor falls. The total drop might be 10 to 20 feet cascading over rocks. Both areas are desolate…with perhaps a dozen settlers at Amatuk and none at Waratuk.
However, on the way to Waratuk, we saw what appeared to be a pinkish houseboat. It was very interesting to see, nestled there along the river in the middle of nowhere.
Jeff dropped us at the edge of the falls. We expected we would have to portage the boat to the top, but he claimed he knew another way up. Over the next 20 minutes, we waited at the top. After about 10 minutes I could see Jeff’s head as he was hauling the boat through the water, wading on foot at the far edge of the falls. 10 minutes later he motored up and we were on our way to Tukiet. As we cruised upstream we could see the morning mist rising from the jungle. The water was like glass. The reflections of the jungle were spectacular and when looking at rocks jutting up from the water it was nearly impossible to discern the rock from the water.
At 9:10 we reached Tukiet. For the record, Waratuk and Tukiet are not settlements and it is highly unlikely you will meet up with anyone there. At Tukiet there was an empty guest house/ranger station.
We thanked Jeff for his hospitality and the ride, and started our hike. I was not feeling very well today: my stomach was upset and I felt drained. Nathan was feeling good. We had bought supplies for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in Georgetown and I was tasting that peanut butter over and over as we started our ascent. We had brought 1 large backpack, 1 medium backpack, 1 small backpack, and a string bag. Until now I had been carrying the large and small. This proved to be too much for me and Nathan loaded up with medium and small. He has always been a strong kid
While not the most difficult hike from a terrain standpoint, the slipperiness and humidity made it challenging. The path had about a dozen detours as fallen trees had covered the main path. Otherwise, the trail was very similar to the trails I have hiked in New England. Unfortunately, the humidity and the peanut butter sapped what little strength I had. What might have been a 2 to 3 hour hike turned into almost 4 hours. We arrived at 1.
We knew there were rangers, a guesthouse and an airstrip at the top. There was also one sign that pointed one way for the guesthouse and another way for the airstrip. Naturally, we followed the guest house sign when we should have gone to the airstrip where the administration building is. Without any additional signage, we started walking the paths looking for the guest house. At one point Nathan exclaimed, “this place is like a labyrinth.”
Twinning…
Luckily we did find a tour group in our wandering that oriented us. A ranger with the group called for another ranger to meet us. This is where we met Ranger Carl Simon aka Simon. Simon took us to the guest house where we dropped our bags. He then took us to the administration building where we met Wenceslas Washington…Washington. We paid Washington the park entry fee and the overnight fee amounting to 20,000 GYD. It seems that prices have gone up a lot since anyone last blogged about this trek.
On our way back to the guesthouse Simon showed us the Cock of the rock, a very rare and pretty bright red bird. Back in the guesthouse, Nathan opted for his hammock on the porch while I chose a bed with bug netting and some walls. As Nathan set up, Simon cleaned the room (they were not prepared for us) and I boiled water to purify for drinking.
So I should probably tell you more about the guesthouse. It is a two-bedroom house on stilts built in the 1970s. Canadian Prime minister Pierre Trudeau is said to have spent his honeymoon here in 1974. It looks extremely worn from the outside and inside. The running water is from a tank slightly uphill that is pumped full of Potaro River water. It is not potable and must be boiled. There are two solar panels on top of the house that are connected to batteries that have lost their usefulness. The gray water empties just outside the building and it appears that the blackwater makes its way to the Potaro. I am not confident about this but the exiting pipe suggests it. In the kitchen is a small 4 burner propane stove a mini-refrigerator an a counter and sink seemingly from the 1940s. All of that said, it was perfect for us. The bed and hammock were very comfortable, the roof kept us dry during the evening storms, which seem the norm…in a rain forest. The stove worked great, and when the power was on, the fridge was cold, the lights were bright and the outlets charged our phones.
We ventured out a little before dark but went to bed shortly after sundown around 6:30pm with pitch dark around 7. It was a dehydrating, strength-sapping, and tiring day.