Everything is done with a local guide, mostly on foot or by canoe. Start at first light: by ten o’clock the savannah is hot and the forest quiet.
1 Surama village
Houses, a school, a church and a football field spread across a grassy basin ringed by forested hills. A walk with your guide covers how cassava is grated, pressed and baked into bread and farine, which plants are used as medicine, and how the village governs itself. Evening performances by the culture group are sometimes arranged.
Practical: 2 hours. Ask before photographing people and homes.
2 Surama Mountain
A steep forest trail climbs to a rock ledge with a view over the whole village basin, the savannah and the Pakaraima foothills. Leave before dawn to be at the top for sunrise and the morning chorus.
Practical: About 1½–2 hours up; hot and slippery in places. Good footwear and water essential.
3 The Burro-Burro River
A forest walk of an hour or so leads to a landing on this small black-water river, where guides paddle dugout canoes downstream in near silence. Giant otters, tapir, spider monkeys and a long list of kingfishers and herons are possible. There is a hammock camp for overnight stays.
Practical: Half a day, or overnight at the river camp.
4 Rock View Lodge
Built around an old ranch house by Colin Edwards, an Englishman who settled here decades ago, the lodge is half hotel, half botanical garden. Guests are shown how cashew nuts are roasted, walk the Panorama Trail over the hill behind for the dawn view, and swim in the rock-edged pool.
Practical: Beside Annai airstrip. Day visits and lunch possible with notice.
5 Annai and Bina Hill
Annai village stands on a rise above the airstrip with a wide view of the savannah. Nearby Bina Hill is home to the district’s development board, a youth training institute and a community radio station, and is a good place to understand how the Makushi villages work together.
Practical: Short visits arranged through the lodges.
6 Wowetta cock-of-the-rock trail
From the village of Wowetta a trail leads through foothill forest to a lek where male Guianan cock-of-the-rock gather among mossy boulders. The birds are present for much of the year and most active in the early months.
Practical: A walk of about 1½–2 hours each way with village guides; half a day in all.
7 The savannah road and Aranaputa
South of Annai the road runs through open grassland below the Pakaraimas. Aranaputa is known for its peanut butter cooperative and a mountain trail of its own; further on are the landings for boats to Rewa and Karanambu.
Practical: Seen on transfers; stops by arrangement.
