Guyana

For some reason, once upon a time, some people decided to put a bunch of manatees in a pool in a city park called National Park in Georgetown. Whether the animals are happy in there is a different question. They probably would prefer their freedom in some river delta, which is their natural habitat, instead of having local kids try to aim stones into their nostrils.
It does however give you a chance to watch these docile, slow, and a little shy animals from up close. They love to eat grass and when you pick a handful and slap it on the water surface they will all (and there are plenty of them in this pond) come swimming to you to be fed. You can pet them and scratch their heads while feeding them.

Arriving into Guyana you feel right away a different vibe than in the neighbouring countries. All off a sudden, you have arrived in the Caribbean, just without the beautiful beaches. Most Guyanese are from either African or Indian descent and from cars and shop windows you’ll hear Soca, Chutney, Bollywood or Reggae music. A strange worldly mix. The colonial history of Guyana is still very evident on signs, with streets and areas bearing Dutch or English names. Some colonial buildings and houses are well maintained or renovated with the St. George’s Cathedral, Town Hall and Parliament buildings as the masterpieces. It’s a pretty laid-back city but a lot more active and with a lot more hustle and bustle than the capitals of the neighbouring Guianas. A great day in Georgetown could be sightseeing the colonial buildings in the morning, eating a curry for lunch, watching a Bollywood movie in the afternoon and party at night with rum and Soca music.

As often with waterfalls, countries claim that they are the tallest, widest, most voluminous, etc. in the world. The Kaieteur Falls is none of the above, but is probably the world’s tallest waterfall with this volume. In any case it is definitely one of the most amazing waterfalls in the world! The massive amount of water from the Potaro river plunges 226 metres down into the gorge below. Pretty much all visitors to the falls take the one-hour flight from Georgetown to the top of the falls where there is an airstrip where small planes can land. From there you can take a guided walk to different viewpoints to admire the grandeur of these magnificent waterfalls and stand on the edge of where the water plunges down. If you have the chance, consider staying overnight. At dawn and dusk, a huge amount of swifts go out or come in to sleep behind the waterfalls.

These cars/taxis/buses with the funny name of the strange-looking animal are unique to Guyana, more specifically to the area between Corriverton and New Amsterdam, an area called Berbice. You won’t see them anywhere else in the country.
These boxy cars are very basic with two doors at the front and one door at the back with two lengthwise benches fitting up to 8 passengers. They are mostly very colourful, nicely decorated and are sometimes given names. Tapirs were originally produced around the '70s. The bodies of the cars were locally fabricated while the engines were imported. Although the production stopped in the '80s they are well maintained and taken care of so you are bound to see plenty of them on the roads in Berbice. They are still the main means of public transportation in this Eastern part of Guyana and a cheap way to travel around locally.