Today is our last morning In Surama Lodge, an interesting location close to the jungle and maintained and owned by the indigenous village nearby. While the lodge was quite rustic we enjoyed the remote setting, still some AC wouldn’t have been amiss. We eat breakfast, today we are the first and get the best bits and then it is time to finish packing and move the luggage into the vans waiting for us.
In the morning the plan is to continue birding along the access road to Surama as the top listers in our group want to see a ground cuckoo and what they want the guides will do, or so it seems.
At least there are lots of birds today like toucans and hawks and lots of smaller and more colorful birds to observe and enjoy.
A special bird for us is the Plumbeous Pigeon, we really like all pigeons and this one is special to us after hearing it many times the previous days. Special for all is the Ringed Woodpecker, the first for the trip.
The next birds are a doozy, a beautiful Pompadour Cotinga pair that we watch for some time as everyone really likes to see colorful cotingas, especially those that are that friendly.
In comparison the Guianan Red-Cotinga is quite sneaky and we barely catch some glimpses before it disappears back into the brush.
However the piece du resistance today is the Guianan Toucanet. Our guides were quite stressed that they didn’t see one yet as by this point in other tours multiples would have been sighted. But right now at the 11th hour we finally meet a couple and we enjoy watching them, got them in the end!!
We then try another trail looking for the ground cuckoo. The trail is quite fun into the jungle but the cuckoos are nowhere to be found.
However the guide takes us to a really old tree that is quite impressive and would likely be the first to be cut if the loggers are permitted to cut here.
Moving from spot to spot we pass through small native villages with traditional houses and we really enjoy these glimpses of traditional culture between our jungle explorations.
Afterwards back in the jungle we go exploring the trails and looking for the elusive ground-cuckoo who simply does not want to show itself.
With no ground-cuckoos we enjoy the old trees and the nice trail and then while returning we find at least one trogon watching us from above.
And then it is lunch time and today lunch is special we are going to eat at a traditional rest stop and not coincidentally it is owned by the mother of our drivers. The food offering is quite extensive, for the first time we also get pork besides chicken, fish and maybe beef. And all of it is quite good and we enjoy it as we explore the expansive rest stop on the main road intersection with Surama road.
We stay some time here with the drivers enjoying their time with their family and we looking for birds in the surrounding area.
There aren’t any special birds except some vultures in the trees and hens with chickens looking for worms and shade near our vans.
And then it is time to leave, we are going to use the main road to drive to our next destination Rock View Lodge.
The drive is faster than we expected with no stops for birding. After leaving Surama the jungle gives way to the Rupununi Savanna where we will spend most of our remaining days in Guyana. And soon we are at Rock Lodge our nice accomodation for the next two nights from where we will go exploring the surrounding area, or so we think.
