Day Eighty One - Yellow Oriole


Second day I've had to use a rushed snap, taken from the window in Georgetown - it's been a quick visit to town, and I've spent a lot of time shopping, and no time photographing...

Day Seventy Nine - The Lethem to Georgetown Road


The road from Lethem to Georgetown passes through a large band of forest. It is unsurfaced and the quality varies. When it is wet it is muddy and difficult, when it is dry it is rutted and bumpy. This panorama is from a roadside snackette and fuel station on the Georgetown side of the forest.

Day Seventy Eight - Butterfly


Yesterday, driving through the forest, we saw hundreds of enormous bright, iridescent blue butterflies. We didn't really have time to stop and try to photograph one, so for the meantime, this plainer one will have to do!

Day Seventy Seven - Broken Bridge Panorama


Upriver from the Dadanawa crossing a new bridge has been built. In the worst part of the rainy season it isn't possible to make it over the savannah to the bridge, but at other times, when the river is too high to either drive over at Dadanawa, or use the Dadanawa pontoon, this bridge is high enough to clear the water (it's hard to believe, looking at the photo, that the water level will rise almost to the level of the bridge - I'd guess that's about 8m).

Sadly, almost as soon as the bridge was finished, in time for the rains last year, it collapsed in the middle as a large caterpillar tracked digger was crossing it. The machine fell into the fast curent, but somehow the digger bucket caught on the bridge, and it wasn't swept away. The windows shattered and the driver was swept out. He was swept downriver, but got to some trees and escaped unharmed.

Note: This photo is a 180 degree panorama - the bridge is straight, but appears to have a 90 degree bend in it - if it didn't, it wouldn't fit on one picture!

Day Seventy Six - The one that didn't get away!


I have to be honest here - I saw the lady leaning over the stable door and took this from a distance with a 135mm lens; I was concentrating on trying to get the metering right and keep the woman from being underexposed, whilst trying to avoid any lens movement - I didn't even see the fish! Once I got it onto computer I couldn't believe my luck! I think they make the photograph. Without them it would be ok, but a bit lacking in something! Maybe I should title today 'An easy catch'!

Day Seventy Five - Centipede


Close call between the centipede and the spider! No more creatures for a while I think!

Day Seventy Four - Thatching Family


The yellow can in mid air is 'Fish Spray' - a local insecticide. The thatched roof had an ants nest at the top. The first throw of the fish spray went wide, so the young girl ran around the back of the house, picked it up, and climbed the homemade ladder to hand it back to her mum for the next throw!

Day Seventy Three - Moribunta


If you don't like nasty insects - look away now!!!

Day Seventy Two - Full Moon


Not happy with this one! Balanced the camera on the back of the jeep, as I didn't have a tripod with me. I think the shutter movement has introduced a bit of movement - shutter speed is 1/10th sec. Will be trying to improve a lot on this during the year.

Day Seventy One - Guitarist and Dancer


A girl from Sawariwau Village and her father.

Day Seventy - Sawariwau Village Panorama


A big panorama of the savannah around Sawariwau village. The original file is 30,000 pixels wide and over 100mb - so this one is seriously compressed!

Day Sixty Nine - Jerome Marques


Jerome is 80 years old. He lives in the bush 2 hours from Sawariwau, the nearest village. It was a rough journey to get there - but he was glad to get some visitors, to talk to, and to tell of his various close brushes with death! Inside, under his thatch roof, it was cool and dark - A little fill in flash brought out some highlights whilst (hopefully) keeping the atmosphere.

Day Sixty Eight - Dead log at Dadanawa Creek


Back to Dadanawa Creek, and the water is even lower and barely moving. We stayed overnight at the old Dadanawa Ranch arriving just before sunset. I walked down to the creek just in time for the sky to turn orange and colours to come out!

Day Sixty Seven - Nursery School Volunteer


Another quiet photo day... We went to the nursery school to work on a funding bid, and I did some 'work' photos of the buildings and desks etc. Inside, this volunteer and a teacher were setting up some displays on the blackboard. It was just by the main door, so some late evening light was coming in, but the building was dark inside. I topped it up with a little flash.

Day Sixty Six - Aishalton Women's Group Kitchen


A luxury kitchen, full of all modern appliances - lunch is being cooked for the Aishalton Women's Sewing Project which is running a training course this week.

Day Sixty Five - Rainbow in the Village


After a full weekend of filming the celebrations at the church, and taking photos of the performance in the evenings, I had a day off - just quickly grabbing this one image as some late afternoon rain drifted in. The rainy season still hasn't started, and it's getting drier and drier.

Day Sixty Four - Wapishana Guitarist


It was a close run thing, between this picture of a traditional guitar, and a different picture of an Aliguitar....

Day Sixty Three - Sunday Football


In the five minutes I spend taking pictures of the football competition, my head bakes! It's hot out there at mid-day, and only the mad are out playing football!

Day Sixty Two - Hammocks


We returned to Aishalton in time for church centenary celebrations. People travelled from many villages, some on foot, some by bicycle, and some by tractor and cart. It was a full weekend of singing and dancing, the first 'hollering competition' I've ever seen, big communal meals, and the most efficient placing of hammocks!

Day Sixty One - Dadanawa Crossing



This is the same location as Day 48 - Crossing the Upper Rupununi. I decided this time that I would get out and 'wade' the river to get a better picture of the crossing. When we got there, the water was ankle deep! The rainy season has not yet started, and we really noticed it on the journey. All the creeks we splashed through in March were dry. As we set off from the North there were some storms near the mountains, but here in the South the country is turning into desert. Another picture of the jeep almost getting its wheels wet is in the 'runner up' folder here.