Rupununi Savanna Safari
Duration
7 Days
From
$4,250
Group
Max 8 Guests
Difficulty
Easy
Guyana
South America's Only English-Speaking Capital
Location Overview
South America's Only English-Speaking Capital
Georgetown sits at the mouth of the Demerara River on Guyana's Atlantic coast, built on land that lies almost a meter below high-tide level and protected by a seawall that runs for kilometers along the shoreline. Founded by the Dutch in 1781 and expanded under British rule, the city retains the largest collection of 19th-century wooden buildings anywhere in the world, most famously St. George's Cathedral at 43.5 meters, one of the tallest wooden structures ever built. Georgetown is the only English-speaking capital in South America and the headquarters of CARICOM, the organization that ties Guyana culturally to the Anglophone Caribbean despite its South American geography. The city's population blends Indo-Guyanese, Afro-Guyanese, Amerindian, Chinese, Portuguese, and European heritage, reflected in markets, temples, mosques, churches, and a food scene drawing on Indian, African, Creole, and Chinese traditions.
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South America's Only English-Speaking Capital
Georgetown · 01 / 03
Chapter 01 / 03
Georgetown sits at the mouth of the Demerara River on Guyana's northern Atlantic coast, built on land that lies 0.91 meters below high-tide level. The city is one of the few national capitals in the world where daily life depends on an active system of sea defenses, drainage canals, and sluices that carry water out of the city and into the ocean at low tide. The Dutch engineered the original drainage layout during their colonial period, and the system is still maintained along the same principles today.
Founded in 1781 during the Dutch Demerara colony, the city was originally called Longchamps and then Stabroek before British forces renamed it Georgetown in 1812 after King George III. It became the capital of British Guiana and remained so when the country gained independence in 1966. Georgetown is the only English-speaking capital in South America and serves as the headquarters of CARICOM, the Caribbean Community, an intergovernmental organization that formally links Guyana with fourteen other member states in economic and political cooperation across the Anglophone Caribbean region.
From the Journal
Field notes, cultural encounters and trail dispatches from our guides and travellers in Georgetown.
836 species. Five potoos on one trip. Harpy Eagles at monitored nests. The world’s last reliable site for the critically endangered Red Siskin. Guyana’s rainforest is 80 percent intact, and almost no one is here.
A Patamona chief named Kai paddled his canoe over the edge of 226 meters of falling water. His people kept his name on the water. Kaieteur means “old man’s falls,” and understanding that name changes what it means to stand at the edge.
The green heart of Guyana: wild jaguars, a canopy walkway in the treetops, record-breaking biodiversity, and a forest run by the Makushi people. Here is when to go, what to see, how to get there, and how to do it well.
Kaieteur National Park wildlife includes creatures found nowhere else on Earth, from a golden frog that spends its whole life inside a single plant to swifts that roost behind the waterfall. This is the ecology of one of South America’s most isolated wildernesses, and the falls that built it.
Most travelers reduce Guyana to a Kaieteur Falls day trip. The country has 815 bird species, the most powerful single-drop waterfall on Earth, the largest scaled freshwater fish on the planet, and indigenous-run lodges where the conservation work is done. Ten destinations worth reaching.
Plan Your Journey
Two dry seasons bracket Georgetown's festival calendar
Georgetown's two dry windows bracket the main travel seasons for Guyana. September and October are the driest months with around 7 to 8 rainy days each and 8 hours of daily sunshine. February through April is the longer dry window, slightly more humid but still reliable for outdoor walks and heritage tours. Mashramani in February fills the streets with costumed parades and soca music for Republic Day, while September is Amerindian Heritage Month with cultural exhibitions across the city. Both windows are the strongest for exploring colonial architecture, the seawall promenade, and Stabroek Market without sudden showers.
Georgetown's secondary wet season brings heavier afternoon showers but stays viable for city exploration, with mornings generally clear enough for walking tours and market visits. December is the wettest month of this period, averaging around 275mm of rain. Diwali often falls in November, filling neighborhoods with lights and pujas, while December brings Christmas celebrations and January ends with Old Year's Night fireworks. Accommodation prices rise around the holiday period and flights to interior destinations can book out weeks in advance. Book heritage hotels early for the last two weeks of December.
Georgetown's primary rainy season averages 19 to 22 rainy days per month from May through July, with heavy afternoon downpours and frequent street flooding in a city that sits below sea level. Mornings often remain clear enough for indoor visits, food walks, and quick sightseeing, but interior itineraries become harder as overland routes flood and charter flights face weather delays. Hotel rates drop significantly, so budget-conscious travelers can find Georgetown more affordable. Pack waterproof shoes and a packable rain jacket. Plan city activities for early morning before the afternoon rain bands arrive.
Annual Overview
| Jan Good | Feb Peak | Mar Peak | Apr Peak | May Shoulder | Jun Shoulder | Jul Shoulder | Aug Shoulder | Sep Peak | Oct Peak | Nov Good | Dec Good |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 79° | 79° | 79° | 81° | 80° | 80° | 79° | 81° | 81° | 80° | 81° | 80° |
Travel Logistics
Choose your route. Every option arrives at the same place.
Georgetown is served by Cheddi Jagan International Airport (GEO/SYCJ) at Timehri, approximately 40 kilometers south of the city. Caribbean Airlines, American Airlines, JetBlue, Copa, and Suriname Airways are the main carriers with direct flights from New York, Miami, Toronto, Panama City, and Port of Spain. Most North American travelers arrive via a stopover in Trinidad or Panama City.
Eugene F. Correia International Airport at Ogle handles almost all domestic flights within Guyana, including charters to Kaieteur Falls, Iwokrama, the Rupununi lodges, and the Shell Beach gateway towns. A handful of regional flights to Barbados, Suriname, and French Guiana also operate from Ogle. Trans Guyana Airways, Roraima Airways, and Air Services Limited are the main domestic carriers.
Georgetown is served by Cheddi Jagan International Airport (GEO/SYCJ) at Timehri, approximately 40 kilometers south of the city. Caribbean Airlines, American Airlines, JetBlue, Copa, and Suriname Airways are the main carriers with direct flights…
Eugene F. Correia International Airport at Ogle handles almost all domestic flights within Guyana, including charters to Kaieteur Falls, Iwokrama, the Rupununi lodges, and the Shell Beach gateway towns. A handful of regional flights…
Why Travel with Us
Ecovoyager coordinates Georgetown arrivals for almost every Guyana itinerary, handling airport transfers, pre-expedition briefings, and heritage stays at Cara Lodge. We arrange walking tours of the colonial core, Stabroek Market food walks, and morning visits to the Botanical Gardens before travelers continue to the interior.
Guyana
In the geographic center of Guyana, the Iwokrama Forest covers 371,000 hectares of tropical rainforest along the Essequibo River where the Guiana Shield meets the northern edge of the Amazon basin. The reserve is…
Guyana
Deep in Guyana's Amazon rainforest, where the Potaro River cuts through billion-year-old Guiana Shield sandstone, Kaieteur Falls drops 741 feet in a single plunge, nearly five times the height of Niagara and twice that…
Guyana
In southwestern Guyana, the Amazon rainforest breaks open into approximately 13,000 square kilometers of tropical grassland rolling toward the Brazilian border, framed by the Iwokrama forest to the north and the Kanuku Mountains bisecting…
The Atlantic Coast's Only Four-Species Sea Turtle Nesting Beach
Along 90 miles of Guyana's Atlantic coast northwest of Georgetown, four species of sea turtles return each year to nest on a remote stretch of sand layered with the crushed shells that give the…
