The Guyana Chronicle has announced the launch of a tourist guide to the Rupununi region of southern Guyana:
…the North Rupununi was an extraordinary natural area in southern Guyana that for the last 30 years had been isolated from the public. The North Rupununi extends from the Siparuni River to the Kanuku Mountains and from the Essequibo River to the Brazilian border. The Rupununi website outlines that the area was well known in the 19th and early 20th centuries, when it received visits from David Attenborough, Gerald Durrell, Evelyn Waugh and Charles Waterton; all of whom wrote eloquently of their experiences. Added to that the recent upgrading of the Georgetown-Lethem road and the completion of the Takutu Bridge, these open new economic opportunities that may bring rapid change to the savannahs, forests and eco-systems.
This is the area traversed by Waugh in 1932-33 on his visit to what was then British Guiana. He described his trip in his travel book Ninety-Two Days (1934) and fictionalized it in his short story “The Man Who Loved Dickens” (1933), later incorporated into the novel A Handful of Dust (1934). Although the article provides no link to an online version of the new guidebook, one wonders whether it may contain an entry for the:
Todd Guest Ranch in McMaster Township. Traditional rustic accommodation dating back to colonial days. Long stay visits a speciality. Full board emphasizing local cuisine. Book groups welcome. Library available to qualified readers. Victorian fiction well represented. Side trips to Boa Vista by river and horseback organized with sufficient advance notice. Reasonable rates. Ask about the Charles Dickens Special. Contact: Anthony Last III, PO Box 92, Karanambu, Guyana HD7 4EW.
