Guyana, an English-speaking country on South America's North Atlantic coast, is culturally connected to the Caribbean region.

It is known for its dense rainforest and calypso music, with the capital, Georgetown, offering British colonial architecture, and the painted-timber St. George's Cathedral.

Community led and owned tourism is an ethos in Guyana that has seen indigenous communities throughout the country's hinterland creating, implementing, and offering their own sustainable tourism initiatives to incoming visitors.

From running the eco-lodges that provide the accommodation to taking visitors out on expertly guided tours to discover Guyana's mega biodiversity, community led, and owned tourism is a method of sustainably managing the destination.

The communities' low carbon lifestyle, commitment to protecting their ancestral lands and the conservation efforts to protect wildlife make Guyana's tourism one of the greenest on the planet.

Konashen, for example, is Guyana's southernmost Amerindian village and a relative newbie to community tourism.

The native Wai Wai tribe has sustainable management of local resources as its principle focus in an area that offers prime wildlife observation including that of several endangered species.

The community's guided treks, some overnight, offer total natural immersion in the rainforest terrain and may be the key to the area's long-term survival.

Bushmasters (bushmasters.co.uk) offers custom tours to the community and into Konashen Community-Owned Conservation Area.

Useful links

www.guyanatourism.com

www.bushmasters.co.uk