Columns & Blogs

South America's quirkiest hotel. This is The Toucan Inn in Guyana. You can find it out at Meten-Meer-Zorg, which is a small town built on a grid of canals, with a temple, a mosque, and a market. Like the town, the hotel sprouts upwards and outwards.

The Hotel of Revolution and Tropical Ballet. As hotels go, the Cara Lodge (pictured) in Georgetown, Guyana, has a pretty exotic history. I loved this place, and occasionally stayed there whenever I needed to be downtown.

Revolution ranch. This is Pirara in the Rupununi (Guyana). When Evelyn Waugh called by, in 1933, here was ‘one of the most imposing and important houses in the district.’ He described a schoolroom, fruit trees and a compendious library with books on every conceivable subject ‘much ravaged by ants’.

Where do South America's Africans come from? According to this chart (photographed in Suriname) all over the African west coast. Some may even have come from much further inland, perhaps as far as East Africa. Here are a few things you may not have known about 18th century slavery:

A world preserved in sugar. This is the mill for the Wales sugar estate in Demerara (Guyana). The factory is about a hundred years old, and looks like an ancient tramp-steamer, puffing away in the mud.

Something deadly in river. These are piranhas, which I photographed on 'The Wild Coast.' However, they are not only common to Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana, but also over much of the upper half of South America.

The world's first wildlife park. This is Walton Hall, near Wakefield in Yorkshire. It was the home of Charles Waterton (1780-1865), whose family had a plantation in British Guiana. The plantation is still there today, now the village of Walton Hall (on the Essequibo Coast), but Charles wasn't interested in it.

A Parliament of Ants. This is the great Dutch hall on Flag Island in the Essequibo River, established in 1744. It has tall, shuttered windows, the bell-tower of a church and the body of a warehouse. Aside from forts, it's probably the oldest building in Guyana. Inside there's a large expanse of flagstones, a cluster of well-laureled tombs, and a colony of bats.

The forgotten garden. This is Mabaruma, in north-west Guyana, which was built high above the forest on an enormous hillock of green. Up here, running along the ridge, is an avenue of stately rubber trees, and a pleasing sprawl of orchards, paddocks, tiny wooden farms, and tobacco-coloured cows.

Four-star reptile haunt. This is Caiman House, in Yurupakari (Guyana). It was originally built by a herpetologist (one who studies reptiles), and it's a bit like Fort Apache, behind an enormous stockade. Inside, there's a grand, red library, finished in hardwood, and, all day, it cheeps with computers and children (who come here to study) .