Iwokrama Hosts School Visits to the Forest

A student from Surama Primary School on the Iwokrama Canopy Walkway.

Songs, laughter, and triumphant voices ring out in the forest as school children hike and explore the trails in Iwokrama. After dinner, Ranger James Honorio tells a story in Makushi explaining how Turtle Pond got its name. Expressions are curious and amazed as a model of a Jaguar skull is passed around and the canines tested on forearms and seatmates. This is part of an exercise discussing the “Chain of Life” and the relationship between producers, herbivores, and carnivores. “Where do we fit in this chain?” asks Ranger Ron, and fits of giggles erupt.

This forest classroom is part of an outreach programme to host the 14 primary schools of the North Rupununi to visit Iwokrama. The school visitors are between 11 and 15 years of age, and while much of the material being taught during the visit may be review to them, it’s the idea that learning is interactive, fun, and can be a lifetime hobby. The visits also give students a chance to visit the Iwokrama Field Station at Kurupukari and to see where the staff (many of whom are family or friends) work and what they do. Visitors also learn more about the Iwokrama’s programmes, and parallels are drawn between these and the community-based programmes they are familiar with at home.

Many of the youths have never before visited Iwokrama, and discussing forest ecology from the Turtle Mountain lookout or the Canopy Walkway puts a new perspective on this subject, and often the visitors are able to teach the teachers a little bit about the Forest. School visits also support Wildlife Clubs activities and include games, skits, cultural presentations, an ecological treasure hunt, bird watching, and gathering data from the rain gauges and phenology* transects.

Apoteri and Rewa schools visited in May and June, and they traveled down the rain-swollen Essequibo River to the Field Station. Crashwater visited in July and was the first school visit to the Canopy Walkway. For most of the students, this was the farthest down river they had ever been from their community. The environmental education paled in comparison to the natural experiences of running rapids, seeing the Essequibo and Forest from Turtle Mountain Lookout, and walking in the treetops!

When school beings again in September, visits to Iwokrama will start up again, and we are looking forward to many more nights of camping out and sharing stories about forest plants and animals.

*Phenology is a branch of science dealing with the relations between climate and periodic biological phenomena (as bird migration or plant flowering); definition courtesy Merriam-Webster OnLine.