Peter Denny 8R1WD Hosts Seth Sjoestroem SM0XBI in Guyana

SM0XBI (Seth) visits Guyana

Our good friend Seth arrived in Guyana on the 22 nd March for his first visit to Guyana and his South American Amazonian experience.  

This trip was two years in the making. Seth had first expressed his interest in coming to Guyana when we first met at the Green Parrot Hotel during Hamboree in St Lucia in 2005.  This interest was renewed when we met again during Hamboree in Grenada in 2006.

Finally Seth arrived here in March just ahead of all the fuss of World Cup Cricket this year in the Caribbean.

Despite his 10:15 PM arrival in town he was ready at 7:30 AM next morning for his river trip up the mighty Essequibo -25 miles wide at its estuary -  and a look see of its tributary, the Mazaruni and it’s  own tributary the Cuyuni, all of which comprise the gateways into Guyana’s  gold and diamond mining amazonian rainforest.

Here Seth was following the path of Dave and Gaynell and other members of the FAIRS Group who made this journey with the Hamboree 2002 group.    

By 7:30 PM he was back from a great day on the rivers – one that he wouldn’t have missed, even for the sunburn and having to miss the annual national Mashramani Republic Day street parade.

After a Saturday of shopping at trying to locate his check-in luggage which didn’t arrive, Sunday was spent visiting by air the Kaieteur and Orinduik water falls located some 190-250 miles South-West of the capital Georgetown. 

Kaieteur is the highest single drop waterfall in the worldwith a first sheer drop of 746 feet before falling a further 200 feet or more to the gorge below. Seth was able to have a swim at the Orinduik falls which are not as high but have several picturesque cascades and straddles the Guyana-Brazil border.  As well as swimming the trip afforded a rainforest tour with some bird-watching and other nature delights.

The following Monday and Tuesday afforded opportunities forsome more shopping, and city touring/sightseeing which included visits to the museum, the botanical gardens and zoo.   Seth also had the opportunity to visit the shacks of 8R1RPN, Raj – a very pleasant evening - and that of 8R1WD, the latter after an early morning walk on the sea-walls, the famous 5 foot wide dyke (levee) which runs for more than 140 miles along the Guyana coast line and provides protection against the high tides.  Seth also met 8R1SR,Sean who was part of both the welcome and departure and helped a lot during the visit .

Seth left on Wednesday morning after a very enjoyable experience with the promise to come for another trip – with family members –despite the fact that his check-in luggage never arrived!

Article Source: http://www.lcfarticles.com/.