Rock View Lodge

Another early start before breakfast, heading out from the lodge for a forest walk.
Then we departed Atta Rainforest Lodge and drove to Rock View Lodge, with a short stop at Corkwood, a small trail, with the guide pointing out some of the plants that are used for medicines and other uses. Also, we managed to track down a Cock of the Rock bird in the dense undergrowth.
Rock View Lodge is located where the savannah meets the forest-covered foothills of the Pakaraima Mountains. With its tropical gardens and flowering trees, the lodge resembles an oasis in the savannah and attracts many species of birds, particularly nectar feeders, frugivores, and flycatchers.
At Rock View Lodge in the afternoon, we watched the traditional roasting of cashew nuts and some typical local crafts.
Rock View Lodge is linked to the local environment and surroundings, situated in the North Rupununi Savannahs, heartland of the Mukushi people, and is one of the two savannah nations of the nine major Amerindian people of Guyana. The others are the coastland Waraus and Caribs, the Patamonas and Akawaios across the Pakaraima Mountains, and the Wai Wais in the south of Guyana. The Mukushi are to the north of the Kanuku mountain range and the Wapishana to the south. The Makushi and the Wapishana are dependent on the forest for their farming and, as such, have two homes, the main one being on the savannah with a further farm home in the forest.
As with all Amerindian people, the Makushi used to travel and barter their product in exchange for other essential items such as pottery, basket work, and other items, which each Amerindian nation specialized in. They became excellent farmers, their staple being based on cassava and its many by-products. The farming is of a shifting cultivation type, which is ideally suited to the relatively poor soils. A farm may last initially for three years, is left for a period of five years for the secondary growth to be felled again, and farmed for a further two years. The land would then be allowed to rest and return to primary forest after 40 years. An interesting opportunity to gain some understanding of the region and its people.
We rounded off the evening with some pre-dinner rum in the bar.Read more