Arriving at Rock View Lodge it is time first for the usual assignment of cabins. This time there are no special couples cabins and everyone stays in a row of rooms each neighboring each other. At least the rooms are quite nice after the previous two lodges, we even have a second bed hidden up in a niche accesible by interior stair.
We have a couple hours till our afternoon hike so we decide to explore the grounds a bit. There is a nice pool even though a bit dirty and lots of birds but mostly common ones like Pale-breasted thrushes and doves.
We decide to climb up the “Rock” to get the “Rock View” that the Lodge is famous for. It is a beautiful view over the airport and plains and mountains in the distance. And it also is the place for a geocache, a rare thing in Guyana.
Returning while avoiding the dangerous falling mangos we rest for a while before it is time to leave to explore the savanna and look for typical birds.
The ride starts first through the neighboring village before continuing through the beautiful savanna with some nice views but only hawks as birds. The vans then hit a patch of mud that even they are afraid to pass so we turn around and then take a side road. This leads to someone backyard and a negotiation ensues until we are allowed to pass and reunite with the main road after the mud patch.
And then we hit the riparian area that our guides were aiming for and that is where we disembark. And now it is time to look for birds while avoiding the many mosquitoes that plague us in this area.
Most birds here are hummingbirds but there is quite a nice selection of them including our first ruby-topaz hummingbird.
The road is also sandy for a section as we continue on looking for any interesting birds and finding only hummingbirds.
And then our vans are back and it is time to return to the savanna to enjoy the sunset, have a sundowner and start looking for nighthawks.
We do not see that many while we wait for them at sundown but we see quite a few while we return including a few on the road, very cute and fun to observe until they fly away.
And then we are back at the lodge for dinner, here it is a little different than the other lodges with the menu for the day being written on a blackboard for informational purposes. Everyone including the owner sits at a long table and then it is time to start the dinner.
First it is soup which is served at the table and then it is time to choose from the buffet options, there are quite a few from local ingredients as usual.
The food is quite good and then at the end we receive mango as dessert, yummy for us but probably the hosts are already bored of it.
Returning to the room we take in the many details in the main building and the gift shop, there is supposedly a local crafter that crafts birds and he might come the next day to sell some. Unfortunately that never happens and we never get the bird carvings we really wanted. Back in our room we are soon fast asleep, tomorrow is our last boat tour of the trip and we are looking forward to it.
