Rupununi

Rupununi is a river and region in southern Guyana, South America, originating in the Kanuku Mountains. The Rupununi River runs from near the Brazilian border into the Essequibo River. The river during the flood season actually shares a watershed with the Amazon. During the rainy season it is connected to the Takutu River by the flooded Pirara Creek, draining the vast swamps of the Parima or Amaku Lake. Early European explorers believed that the Rupununi floodplains were in fact the legendary Lake Parime.

The Rupununi region is mostly made up of the Rupununi savannah, but contains rainforest habitat also.

There are several indigenous peoples living in the area, including the Wapishana, the Macushi, and the Wai-wai.

The region consists of a tropical rainforest and a savannah and is known for its great diversity of freshwater fish and intact ecosystems that harbor many species extirpated from other areas of South America. Peanut production plays an important role in the regional economy.

Several well-known naturalists and botanists such as David Attenborough, Gerald Durrell, Evelyn Waugh and Charles Waterton, have all visited the Rupununi region throughout the 19th century and the early 20th centuries.

References

Fowler, Frank (1908). The Geology of the Goldfields of British Guiana. Original from the University of Michigan. p. 16.
Timehri. Original from the University of Michigan: Royal Agricultural and Commercial Society of British Guiana. 1895. p. 119.

External links

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