Not to miss

Georgetown

There's something endearing about Georgetown's easy to navigate streets, dilapidated colonial architecture and unkempt parks. Despite the hard-boiled exterior, the city has a thriving intellectual scene, fabulous restaurants and a riotous night-life.

The congested market area invades the senses with its mix of angry and happy shouting, marijuana smoke, and friendly and suspicious faces. There's so much turbulence that the town feels on the verge of exploding. A few blocks away, traffic lessens, the streets are nearly empty and there's a palpable Caribbean calm.

Bartica

A friendly mining town south of Georgetown, Bartica is the base for exploring surrounding gold and diamond fields, roughing it by foot and truck to Kaieteur Falls, and trekking into the interior. The swimming is good and the local market colourful and lively.

Iwokrama Rain Forest

Iwokrama, established in 1996, is a unique, living laboratory for tropical forest management and socio-economic development for Amerindians. Amidst 371,000 ha (916,760 acres) of virgin rainforest, this exceptional region is home to the highest recorded number of fish and bat species in the world.

Also calling this remarkable forest home are South America's largest cat (the jaguar), the world's largest scaled fresh water fish (the arapaima), and the world's largest otters, river turtles, anteaters, snakes, rodents, eagles and caimans.

Unlike a national park, Iwokrama is not funded by the government and must therefore take a very realistic approach of how to keep afloat without overexploiting resources. Amerindian peoples inhabit parts of the forest and are encouraged to work with ecotourism projects, to become park rangers, harvest tropical aquarium fish and create cottage industry. Don't miss the chance to visit the rainforest canopy walkway which takes you 30m (98ft) up into the leaves.

Rupununi Savannas

These Africa-like plains are scattered with Amerindian villages and an exceptional diversity of wildlife. Rivers filled with huge caimans, the world's largest water lilies (the Victoria amazonica) and a mindboggling variety of colorful birds, cut through plains of golden grasses and termite mounds.

The heart of the savanna is at Annai, a crossroads of Amerindian peoples with a police station and an airstrip, although the biggest settlement is much further south at Lethem, a cowboy town on the Brazilian border. Although the savanna stretches over an area of 104,400 sq km (40309 sq mi), there's a distinct feel of a tight community down here and you'd be hard pressed to find a safer place on earth. The region attracts and grows a collection of unique characters fanatical about wildlife and ecopreservation.

Kyk-Over-Al

At the junction of the Mazuruni and Cuyuni rivers is Kyk-Over-Al, a ruined Dutch fortress dating from 1616. From here, take a ferry to Marshall Falls, which is a good place for bathing and observing riverine wildlife.