Ditching Gatwick's grey for Georgetown's humid blast – Guyana, a South American nation where the emerald canopy of the Amazon meets its northeast Atlantic rim, its only English-speaking territory. Wedged between Suriname and Venezuela, and sharing a significant border with Brazil to the south, now sees its burgeoning oil wealth as a chance to unveil its stunning landscapes – a visual story I was commissioned to capture. Not just chasing flavors for some magazine; this was about faces, vast horizons, the real frontier. Oil's booming, yeah, new roads and all that. More boots on the ground, too (up 11%!). But the real Guyana? Dawn flight to the Rupununi savannah. Then it was pure grit: 4x4, then a screaming motor-canoe up the snaking Essequibo. This is where the real journey ignited...

First ranch breakfast set the tone: ripe mango, watermelon, crisp cassava bread still warm from the griddle , hot fry‑bake bread just out of the oil , and a bowl of pepperpot dark with cassareep . Ringing the table was today’s Guyana—Wapishana guides and Macushi hosts from the savannah , alongside Afro‑, Indo‑ and Chinese‑Guyanese crew whose roots trace to African slavery, Indian indenture and 19th‑century Chinese contracts . Four histories, one meal: rural Guyana in a nutshell.