The CATS Partnership – Iwokrama Canopy Walkway & Atta Rainforest Lodge
Rock View is proud to be a founding member of the CATS Partnership along with the Amerindian Community of Surama, Iwokrama River Lodge, and Wilderness Explorers. CATS jointly operates the Iwokrama Canopy Walkway and Atta Rainforest Lodge, about 90 minutes by road from Rock View. Together we bring a wealth of expertise and creativity to the guests who spend time with us. The CATS partnership is a model of ecotourism that proves the tourism sector, a conservation NGO, and an indigenous community can find joint economic success while providing local opportunity and an excellent experience for visitors from around the world.
Many of Guyana’s 840+ species are on unique display at the Canopy Walkway. Perched 33 meters (100 feet) above the forest floor, the walkway’s three spacious platforms give visitors a unique perspective impossible to gain from the ground below. The Walkway and Lodge are staffed entirely by local Makushi Amerindians who grew up in this rainforest, walking its trails, swimming in its rivers, and learning from countless days of experience. Atta Rainforest Lodge, at the base of the walkway, provides home-cooked meals and comfortable accommodation and is perfectly situated for early and late visits to the walkway.
The Partners
Wilderness Explorers
Private Sector Tour Operator | Website | Facebook
Wilderness Explorers is a Guyana-based tour operator facilitating meaningful visits to the Wild Coast of South America (Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana). The company promotes ecologically sensitive tourism through a responsible and concerned attitude towards the environment. Wilderness strives to provide the maximum benefit to the local communities by operating in a honest, thoughtful and concerned manner towards their customs and involving the communities so as to afford them the greatest financial benefit possible. At the same time Wilderness offers professional tourism services of an international standard to their clientele.
Iwokrama International Centre for Rainforest Conservation and Development
Research, Hospitality & Training Centre | Website | Facebook
Iwokrama is a forest in central Guyana, some 300 km south of Georgetown, the capital of Guyana. It encompasses 3,600 square kilometres of lush, pristine tropical rainforest. It is also the home for forest conservation and research and development at the Iwokrama International Centre.
In 1989, the government of Guyana offered to set aside the Iwokrama Forest to the international community to be used as a demonstration area where the ecological, social, and economic nature and potential of tropical rain forests could be studied and tested in a hands on way. The resulting knowledge is used to show how forest ecosystems can be used to increase social and economic benefits to forest user groups everywhere, without destroying the forest.
Ecotourism is one of the important components of Iwokrama’s strategy for financial self sufficiency. The Iwokrama Forest and the Rupununi Wetlands and savannahs offer visitors the opportunity for an exceptional natural and cultural experience set in a learning context. By staying at Iwokrama guests are directly contributing to the communities in and surrounding the forest and to the conservation of what lies within.
Surama Village and Eco-Lodge
Amerindian Community Tourism Project | Website | Facebook
Surama village is a small Amerindian community of the Makushi people living in the north Rupununi region # 9. The word Surama, originally“SHURAMATA”, means the place of spoiled Bar-B-Que (or where Bar-B-Que spoiled). The name derived during a tribal conflict between the Makushi and Carib many, many years ago. Surama village is situated in 5 sq miles of savannah land, surrounded by forest, hills and mountains of the Pakariama mountain range. The life of the people is in the art and understanding of how to live with nature. It is a simple and basic way of life, living according to the laws of nature. The population is 287 and lives off the knowledge of the land. Although Surama has seen many, many moons, it was only in 1974 where R.F. Allicock and T.V Allicock invited a group of friends from Kwatamang and Wowetta to join 4 families in Surama to organize a proper village system which will allow better management for the natural resources including the people. The village started with 86 souls, adults and children.
Rock View Lodge
Private Lodge Operator | Website | Facebook
The Rock View Lodge was conceived by Colin Edwards, an Englishman who has been closely associated with Guyana since he came here as an agricultural volunteer in 1969. He purchased the old ranch of Rock View from the Fredericks family in 1992, who had been rearing cattle here since 1969.
Rock View is arguably one of the most relaxing and comfortable places to stay in the North Rupununi with the most unique blend of people, culture, cuisine, art and agriculture and tour activities and a commitment to excellence that reflects the very high quality of its hospitality services and its well maintained premises. It is a completely owned and run family business – the family itself a blend of Amerindian, Brazilian, British and Basque! It stands as a proud example of Guyana’s brand of tourism at its best with its blend of heritage, skills, life experiences, local knowledge, social connections and personalities.