Vickie Lillo is a freelance US writer with a special interest
in travel and herpetology.
I
ndigenous tribesmen Ducky and Buddy
Simon - brothers - are paddling upstream,
packing a pair of cane poles, along with
crickets and a tin of pungent flour and cheese
paste for bait. They are headed towards prime
fishing territory for giant catfish and peacock
bass. The ebony water, tainted black from
decomposing vegetation, laps at the side of
their dugout.
“Look,” Ducky whispers, pointing at a napping
Smooth Machete Savane (Chironius scurrulus)
in the bushes along the shore. Thwack! His
wooden oar smacks the surface, sending a
splash of river water onto the
‘fire snake’. Awake and fright-
ened, the mildly-venomous
colubrid slithers into the
undergrowth.
Hours later, content with their
catch of fish, the two siblings
are rounding the same bend in
the river when suddenly, from
out of the tangle of interlaced
roots, springs that very same
copper-red snake, rear fangs
bared! The serpent propels its
slender body through the air
and into the cramped canoe,
betwixt the two Amerindian
guides - apparently still agi-
tated that they roused it from a
peaceful slumber. Without a
second thought, both Buddy
and Ducky dive fully-clothed
into the Mahaica. Meantime,
the Smooth Machete Savane
simply glowers at the two men
still treading water; smug and
complacent from his position of
power in the bottom of their
boat….
Above right: Ayonto Hororo Eco-
lodge & Wildlife Sanctuary.
Rjght: Ceremonial Roundhouse
on the banks of the Mahaica River
in the grounds of the Eco-lodge.
Images by Vickie Lillo.
“I love telling that story about my brothers-in-law,”
Damon Corrie confides to my husband Gustavo,
teenage son Nicolas and I, with a chuckle. As heir
to the hereditary chieftaincy of the Eagle Clan of the
Lokono-Arawak nation, this self-taught herpetologist
and conservation crusader is fiercely proud of his
Amerindian heritage and protective of the 240
square miles of crime-free, disease-free (no yellow
fever; no malaria) tribal lands. My family and I are
the first week-long guests at the newly-opened
Ayonto Hororo Eco-lodge and Wildlife Sanctuary,
here in northern Guyana; an entrepreneurial venture
to help fill the communal coffers and appease the
widespread (up to 70%) unemployment rate on the
reservation. This is Damon’s vision: a way for the