Senior Nature Lover’s Paradise

For the adventurer, Guyana is a place of wonder; for the eco-tourist, it is a country where nature has placed its greatest riches. The country is a paradise for senior nature lovers, senior adventure seekers, and senior citizens who love the exotic.

You will discover an irresistible combination of fascinating and breathtaking natural beauty, pristine Amazonian rainforests, immense waterfalls, amazing wildlife blended with a vibrant indigenous culture, rich heritage and some of the most hospitable and friendly people you will ever meet. It’s called an Amazon Adventure.

Guyana is about the size of Idaho with a tropical forest that covers more than 80% of the land. It stretches 450 miles from its long Atlantic coastline into dense equatorial forest. The official language of Guyana is English and senior travelers won’t need a visa. Although not required, it is recommended that travelers receive vaccination against Typhoid fever within 2-4 weeks prior to arriving in Guyana.

The capital of Guyana is Georgetown and this is where senior visitors will no doubt start out your adventure. It was the French who developed Georgetown and made it their capital city when they captured the colony in 1782. The French called the capital La Nouvelle Ville.

A major visitor attraction is the Rupununi, a vast area of dry grasslands, with sparse trees, huge termite mounds and sprawling hills in the southwest of the country. The Iwokrama Rain Forest features 360,000 hectares (if you are not used to the metric system, that’s 889,579.373 acres) of pristine rainforest and that’s a bunch.

Seniors, Where is Guyana?

Maybe, just maybe senior travelers are wondering, like my wife, where Guyana is located. This map will put you right on the spot. The country has a population of just over 3/4 million and most of the population lives along the coast. About 50% of the people are of East Indian descent, and about 30 percent are of black African descent. A little background history: first charted by Spain in 1499, Guyana came under Dutch control by the mid-1700s. The British gained possession of Guyana in 1814.

The name Guyana (from Arawak Wayana) means “Land of many waters.” The tumbling rivers and dense rainforests of Guyana are filled with extraordinary natural sights like Kaieteur Falls. Kaieteur is one of the highest waterfalls in the world, nearly five times as high as Niagara Falls.

 Enjoy shelling? Shell Beach extends for about 90 miles along Guyana’s northwestern shore. True to its name, this remarkable strand consists of uncounted numbers of tiny shells, a composition that makes it an ideal nesting site for sea turtles. Four of the world’s eight sea turtle species come here each year to nest. Enjoy birding? In Guyana more than 796 species of birds from 72 different families have been documented. Plus, there are many more species that remain unidentified.

I think that you will enjoy exploring Guyana.  jeb