T&T Guardian pho­tog­ra­ph­er An­dre Alexan­der was in Guyana over the East­er week­end and con­firmed that that coun­try is a par­adise for na­ture lovers, ad­ven­ture seek­ers and the eco-tourist. He had the priv­i­lege of wit­ness­ing the Phag­wah fes­ti­val, tra­vers­ing the Es­se­qui­bo Riv­er and trav­el­ling to Lethem for the Rupu­nuni Rodeo.

"I nev­er imag­ined the Es­se­qui­bo Riv­er had so many is­lands, white sand beach­es and riv­er re­sorts," he said.

There are ac­tu­al­ly 365 dif­fer­ent is­lands on the Es­se­qui­bo Riv­er, in­clud­ing the house and stu­dio on the is­land owned by in­ter­na­tion­al­ly ac­claimed Guyanese singer Ed­die Grant.The team Alexan­der trav­elled with vis­it­ed the Hu­rakabra Riv­er Re­sort, Aruwai Re­sort White H2O, Baganara Is­land, Sloth Is­land and Forth Is­land.

Forth Is­land, now a na­tion­al mon­u­ment, was once the cap­i­tal of the Dutch colonies of the Es­se­qui­bo and De­mer­ara dur­ing the 26th and 17 cen­turies.

East­er week­end an­nu­al­ly in Guyana sees the host­ing of the Rupu­nuni Rodeo at Lath­em, the Guyana-Brazil bor­der town where com­pe­ti­tion in bull rid­ing and wild horse rid­ing runs high among var­i­ous ranch­es of the Rupu­nuni re­gion.

To­day, the T&T Guardian shares somes of the mem­o­ries Alexan­der cap­tured.