Why Guyana Is South America's Best-Kept Secret

Some places impress you. Others stay with you long after you've left. Guyana did both.

The Last Place That Still Felt Wild

It was a random Wednesday afternoon when I stumbled across an unexpectedly cheap flight on Skyscanner to Guyana.

If you had asked me a month earlier what was there, my answer would have been embarrassingly short. Rainforest. Maybe waterfalls. Honestly... that wa

s about it.

I didn't know anyone who had been. My Instagram feed wasn't full of it, and there weren't countless TikToks telling me where to eat or which viewpoints were “must-sees.”

It felt like one of the few places left that hadn't been over-explained.

And maybe that's exactly what made me book it.

Somewhere along the way, travel had started to feel predictable. Before I'd even boarded the plane, I already knew what the famous viewpoints looked like, which cafés were trendy, and which streets would end up on my camera roll. I wasn't discovering places anymore—I was recognizing them.

Guyana offered me the chance to be surprised.

I boarded the plane knowing almost nothing about the country I was about to spend the next week exploring. Looking back, I wasn't searching for another stamp in my passport. I was searching for the feeling that made me fall in love with travel in the first place.

I just didn't know it yet.

Arriving Without a Plan

When I landed in Georgetown, I still wasn't sure what to expect. The city felt refreshingly unpolished—a place where daily life unfolded without trying to impress visitors.

It also became clear that I probably should have done more research.

Guyana was one of the most challenging places I've traveled to alone—not because it felt unsafe, but because tourism infrastructure is still limited. Many lodges and tours need to be booked well in advance, some don't accept solo travelers, and getting around requires more planning than I had anticipated.

I arrived with nothing more than an Airbnb booked for my first night and the hope that everything else would fall into place.

Against all odds, it did.

Within a day, I'd pieced together a last-minute itinerary that would take me to one of the world's most spectacular waterfalls and deep into Guyana's remote interior.

Flying to Kaieteur Falls

When I woke the next morning, I was relieved to see blue skies. I'd taken a gamble by visiting during the rainy season, and with a flight to Kaieteur Falls scheduled that morning, the weather couldn't have been more important.

I made my way to the tiny airport, climbed aboard a small propeller plane, and settled in for the 45-minute flight over an endless sea of emerald rainforest.

Then, suddenly, the trees gave way.

Rising out of the jungle was a massive sandstone cliff with an unimaginable volume of water plunging over its edge. The pilot circled the falls several times before landing, and I practically pressed my face against the window to take in every angle.

A short hike later, I finally experienced it from the ground.

I heard Kaieteur before I saw it. The roar echoed through the forest

long before the waterfall came into view. Then, as I stepped onto the lookout, there it was—water crashing into the gorge with such force that mist rose constantly from below. The sunlight caught the spray, painting a rainbow across the valley.

For a moment, it felt like I was standing at the edge of the world.

Nothing had prepared me for its scale. It wasn't just beautiful. It was overwhelming.

And somehow, my favorite part of the adventure was still ahead of me.

The Long Road to the Rupununi

The following morning, I prepared for another journey—this time, an 18-hour ride through the Amazon Basin toward the Rupununi, a remote savannah in southern Guyana.

We loaded into vans before sunrise and soon left the pavement behind. What followed was nearly 18 hours on some of the roughest roads I've ever traveled, surrounded by some of the most incredible scenery I've ever seen.

Towering trees crowded the roadside, their branches draped with thick vines and giant ferns. The rich red dirt roads were carved with deep potholes and muddy ruts.

We bounced, lurched, and slid through the jungle for hours. A few times, one of the vans became stuck in the mud and had to be pulled free before we could continue.

Yet somehow, none of it felt frustrating.

With every mile, the landscape changed. Dense rainforest slowly gave way to wide-open grasslands dotted with termite mounds and grazing cattle. It felt as though we were watching two completely different worlds blend into one another.

The mountains and jungle faded behind us as the savannah stretched into the distance. I kept my eyes fixed on the water-filled ditches outside my window, hoping to catch a glimpse of a caiman beneath the muddy surface.

Somehow, I spotted two.

By the time we reached the Rupununi, I realized the drive hadn't simply been transportation. It had been part of the adventure itself.

Thirty-Six Hours in the Rupununi

I only spent about 36 hours in the Rupununi, but every hour felt like an adventure.

I explored the quiet streets of Lethem, the small frontier town where I was staying, and crossed into neighboring Brazil for lunch. There was something surreal about slipping into another country for the afternoon before returning to Guyana in time for dinner.

But the highlight came before sunrise the following morning.

Determined to see an anteater in the wild, I hired a local guide who picked me up on his motorcycle before dawn. Together, we rode across the savannah as the first light crept over the horizon, scanning the termite mounds and grasslands for movement.

Then, there it was.

An anteater wandered slowly across the savannah, seemingly unaware that it had just become one of the moments I had traveled halfway around the world hoping to experience. We watched quietly from a distance as it continued its morning undisturbed.

South America’s Best-Kept Secret

Soon, it was time to return to Georgetown. I spent my final day wandering through Stabroek Market, sampling traditional Guyanese food, and admiring the city's wooden colonial architecture before heading home.

As my flight lifted above the rainforest, I thought back to that random Wednesday afternoon when I'd impulsively booked a cheap flight to a country I knew almost nothing about.

Guyana reminded me why I started traveling in the first place.

Not to check destinations off a list or recreate photographs I'd already seen online, but to experience places that still have the power to surprise me.

Guyana isn't the easiest destination to visit. It requires planning, patience, and a willingness to embrace the unexpected. Yet that may be exactly why it has remained so special. While much of South America has been mapped, photographed, and repackaged for travelers, Guyana still feels largely untouched by the expectations of tourism.

Here, waterfalls rise from endless rainforest, anteaters wander across open savannah, and the journey itself can be as unforgettable as the destination.

That is why Guyana feels like South America’s best-kept secret—a place still wild enough to surprise you and remote enough to feel truly undiscovered.