Our lodging for the next two nights, the last two in the interior of Guyana is Manari Ranch. It is one of those lodgings that you really cannot reserve without a direct line to the owner. It is not bookable online, it has no website, it has no Tripadvisor reviews, in short it seems like it does not exist. But exist it does as we are now in front of the gates waiting to check in and see how the setup is at this lodge.
Actually the setup is quite normal with multiple rooms in a building, motel style, with us having one of the ends as a couple. The room is good enough, it even has glass shutters but as a problem the fan is not working. We find out that it is powered only between specific hours, quite weird given how hot it is.
At 16:30 is the time for our afternoon tour, today it is simply a hike on the grounds to see what birds we can find. There are supposed to be quite a few locally restricted birds like the Orange-backed Troupial we already see on the way to the meeting point.
The Troupials are quite common here, less common are the Saffron Finch, we see them only a couple times during the stay.
As we explore the gardens we find the obligatory mango tree, they are really common on the ranches here as they give lots of fruit, too many maybe even. However they might attract birds like the anis waiting in tree nearby for a sign to go on attack.
Above us fly macaws and in the trees we see troupials and the other specialty on the ranch, the Bicolored Wren. With that we have seen all the likely lifers on the ranch but we still enjoy the walk in the falling shade, it is not so hot anymore which is great.
We then reach the small creek that flows near the ranch and enjoy the great while looking for birds on the shore and between the undergrowth with little luck.
As the sun is setting we settle in in front of the ranch enjoying the sunset and looking for nighthawks. According to our guide there should be quite a few of them but unfortunately we are unluckly and we barely see two before it gets dark. The sunset is great though with the sun rays being weirdly illuminated leading to lots of theories how this is possible.
Dinner is family style here. We are served homemade food, no choices for the mains really. Luckily the food is quite good and full we retreat back to our room as tomorrow we have another early start for another very rare bird, the Red Siskin.
