Travelling to Bartica

BARTICA is Guyana's most enjoyable town. One of the country's oldest settlements, situated on the confluence of the Essequibo, Mazaruni and Cuyuni rivers. It remains an important hinterland mining town. The town's population, a gritty mix of gold and diamond miners and lumberjacks, is rough, raucous (witness the preponderance of bars and nightclubs) but extremely friendly. The bandits are in Georgetown; Bartica is as safe and welcoming as you could hope for.

Apart from strolling along the town's streets and avenues soaking up the laid-back atmosphere, most of the things to see are on and around the Essequibo and Mazaruni rivers. All that remains of Kyk-Over-Al (See-Over-All), the seventeenth-century, Dutch-built fort on one of the 365 islands in the Essequibo, is an arch. After defeat by the English in 1676, the Dutch moved from the fort to a site on the banks of the Mazaruni River, which is now occupied by Mazaruni Prison. Further upstream, on the banks of the Mazaruni River, Marshall Falls (G$1000 entrance fee; G$6000 overnight in hammocks with meals) is a reasonably pleasant waterfall, where, despite the wine-coloured water (the result of leaves and mineral deposits), there is good swimming at all times of the year. To visit these and other river attractions try Bartica-based Bhagwandas Balkarran, Lot 2, Triangle St (tel 455-2544 or 621-0469), who gives guided tours in his boat for G$15,000 (the boat seats around six people).