This Less-traveled South American Country Is a Natural Paradise—and a Photographer's Dream

Travel + Leisure

12 hours ago

Of all the natural splendors photographer Ike Edeani witnessed in Guyana—dinosaur-like reptiles, murderous-sounding monkeys, needle-nosed anteaters—the sight that stayed with him the longest was that of a single white flower. From left: 'It only blooms at dusk,' said Edeani of the Victoria amazonica flower he photographed near Karanambu Lodge, in central Guyana. 'I shot this lit by a flashlight from the boat.'; 'This is a close-up of two lily pads. They're amazing to look at, with their texture and their tiny holes.'.
'We were on a boat on a massive pond, surrounded by lily pads,' Edeani said. 'As soon as the sun dipped, the lily buds slowly started to open. They're called Victoria amazonica, and they only bloom at dusk. By nightfall, they were fully open. It was pretty incredible. It felt like being on another planet.' Left: 'I saw this grasshopper outside my room at the Caiman House. It was 5 a.m. and the light was very soft.'. Right: 'This was my room at Karanambu Lodge. It was fairly rustic, with brick walls and a thatched roof. At night, I had to charge my batteries in the office.'.
Edeani, who was born in Nigeria and lives in Brooklyn, does not consider himself an outdoorsy person. He has previously photographed Tim Cook, André Leon Talley, Adrien Brody, and Lena Waithe; for Travel + Leisure, he shot a feature on city life in Lagos.
But when the opportunity arose to photograph Guyana—a country he knew little about—he embraced the adventure. 'I love to put myself in situations that are uncomfortable or different,' he said. 'Or places that I haven't been.' 'We were on the Rupununi River when one of the guides pointed out this red howler monkey. They were able to spot things that I couldn't see.'.
A jungle-cloaked country on the northeastern coast of South America, Guyana is short on paved roads, modern airstrips, and reliable electricity—not to mention luxury resorts and Michelin-worthy restaurants.
Whatever comforts it may lack, however, the country more than makes up for in unspoiled natural beauty. About 60 percent of its landmass is covered with virgin rainforest, which is home to more than 820 species of birds, 320 documented species of reptiles and amphibians—some of which are unique to the region—and some 228 species of mammals, including the jaguar, Guyana's national animal. Left: 'This was also at the Bourda Market. She was washing vegetables, and I was drawn to the colors.' Right: 'A chef gave us a tour of the Bourda Market, in Georgetown.' The wiri-wiri peppers reminded Edeani of cherries.
There are also more than 8,000 species of plants, with botanists discovering new varieties every year. Kaieteur Falls, in central Guyana, is the world's tallest single-drop waterfall at 741 feet, roughly five times higher than Niagara Falls. 'You have to be incredibly still to see them,' Edeani said of the cock-of-the-rock, spotted near the Atta Rainforest Lodge, where he spent one night. 'This bird is special to Guyana.'.
While tourist infrastructure is in its infancy, what does exist is often owned and operated by members of Guyana's protected Indigenous communities. That was a key selling point for Ker & Downey, a tour operator best known for luxury safaris in Africa. 'Your tourism dollars aren't just trickling down; they're going straight to the community and supporting the local people,' said Elizabeth Frels, the company's director of product management and development.
Other considerations weighed in Guyana's favor, too: English is the official language; it's in the same time zone as the East Coast; and there are direct flights to Georgetown, the Caribbean-inflected capital, from New York and other American cities. ' We were on the savanna near Karanambu Lodge. The guy on the horse is a vaquero, or cowboy. His job was to spot anteaters and try to gently guide them in our direction.'.
So about three years ago, Ker & Downey began organizing adventure tours to Guyana's rainforests, savannas, and mountains. The was a flurry of inquiries, but expectations needed to be set. Accommodations are bare-bones. Ground vehicles can be shoddy. Connecting flights are on antiquated prop planes. Bugs are ever-present. And it's often sweltering.
'This is not for people looking for super-high-end luxury hotels and VIP treatment,' Frels said. 'This is for people who really want to get to the heart of a destination and have authentic interactions with local people.' 'The Iwokrama Canopy Walkway is near the Atta Rainforest Lodge and rises a hundred feet above the forest floor. It was pretty scary; it was swaying the whole time.'.
Suitably forewarned, Edeani packed his Sony Alpha 7R V mirrorless camera and three lenses and, accompanied by a Ker & Downey travel expert and Indigenous guides, spent a week in Guyana last August, when the heat index regularly hit triple digits. 'These skeletons were on display at the Caiman House,' a wildlife-research station along the banks of the Rupununi River that has a guest lodge. 'They study caimans there,' Edeani said. 'There's a turtle nursery, too.'.
He spent four days exploring the rainforests and rivers of central Guyana before returning to the capital. Some of his photos took a split-second to capture, like the black caiman that poked its head out of the water to gobble up a passing bird. Others, like the water lily, took a couple of hours to get right—plus the time it took to paddle back to the lodge in total darkness.
'I came away from this trip being pretty amazed by nature,' Edeani said. 'The fact that there are creatures and organisms operating at so many different scales that are somehow able to coexist. That was really profound, actually.' 'Every evening, these herons returned to the same nests along the Rupununi River.'.
A version of this story first appeared in the July 2025 issue of Travel + Leisure under the headline "Guyana in Focus. "