Iwokrama is a proud founding member of the CATS partnership
Community and Tourism Services, Inc. (CATS) is a unique partnership formed to jointly operates the Atta Rainforest Lodge at the Iwokrama Canopy Walkway. The CATS partnership is a model of ecotourism that proves the tourism sector, a conservation NGO, and an indigenous community can find joint economic success while providing local opportunity and an excellent experience for visitors from around the world.
Surama Village
Surama village is a small Amerindian community of the Makushi people living in the north Rupununi region # 9. Surama village is situated in 5 sq miles of savannah land, surrounded by forest, hills and mountains of the Pakariama mountain range. The life of the people is in the art and understanding of how to live with nature. It is a simple and basic way of life, living according to the laws of nature.
Wilderness Explorers
Back in 1999 Wilderness Explorers was one of the first tour operators to embrace the now-fashionable idea of community tourism, partnering with Surama Village to provide marketing and administrative support for that country’s first indigenously-operated ecolodge. These days Wilderness continues to work with lodges and regional consortiums with tourism development aspirations.
Rock View Lodge
The Rock View Lodge was conceived in 1992 by Colin Edwards, who purchased the old ranch of Rock View from the Fredericks family who had been rearing cattle here since 1969. It was once a significant stop along the old cattle trail of the Rupununi. Today, Rock View offers comfortable guest accommodation and boasting the interior region’s only swimming pool. The lodge is immediately adjacent to the Annai airstrip and is a frequent jumping-off point for visitors entering and leaving the Rupununi
Iwokrama
Iwokrama is a forest in central Guyana, some 300 km south of Georgetown, the capital of Guyana. It encompasses 3,600 square kilometres of lush, pristine tropical rainforest. It is also the home for forest conservation and research and development at the Iwokrama International Centre. In 1989, the government of Guyana offered to set aside the Iwokrama Forest to the international community to be used as a demonstration area where the ecological, social, and economic nature and potential of tropical rain forests could be studied and tested in a hands on way.