Guyana is slowly but surely opening up for tourism. Small in South American terms, it is big in Caribbean terms-Britain would fit into it comfortably, and Guyana has only 1 per cent of Britain’s population. It is a land of vast rivers and savannahs’, thick rain forest and dramatic mountains, with one of the most spectacular waterfalls in the world, the 741-foot Kaieteur Falls.
For most visitors, Georgetown, the capital, is the first (sometimes, sadly, the only) stop. It lies at the mouth of the Demerara River, a city of wide avenues laid out beside canals dating from Dutch times, protected from the Atlantic by a long sea-wall (for much of the city lies below the high-tide mark). Despite the difficult times that Guyana has gone through, man” of Georgetown’s famous wooden public buildings and its 19th century homes on stilts are as rewarding as ever. Look especially for the Gothic-style City Hall on Avenue of the Republic (1887), St George’s Cathedral (1892, at 142 feet one of the world’s tallest wooden buildings), the Law Courts (1878) with their imitation Tudor frames, the majestic Parliament building on Avenue of the Republic, and the President’s residence on Main Street (1852).