Rupununi — Rediscovering a Lost World
Where ancient geology, extraordinary wildlife, and indigenous culture meet in southwest Guyana
The Rupununi is one of the world’s last great wilderness areas. In southwest Guyana, where the savannas meet the Amazon basin, this extraordinary landscape holds secrets that took millennia to form. Seasonally flooded wetlands drive one of the world’s great freshwater fisheries. Ancient mountains shelter species found nowhere else. And the Makushi and Wapishana peoples have stewarded one of the planet’s most biodiverse places for ten thousand years. This site is a companion to the book Rupununi: Rediscovering a Lost World. It brings together geology, wildlife, people, and history to help visitors, researchers, and policymakers understand this remarkable region.
Why it matters
The Rupununi matters for three reasons: biodiversity, people, and climate. It hosts over 1,400 species of vertebrates — comparable to the most diverse areas of western Amazonia. Its indigenous communities have managed these landscapes for ten thousand years. The intact forests are key to the Government of Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy. This is one of the world’s most ambitious plans for forest conservation. In 2025, Guyana launched the Global Biodiversity Alliance at a summit in Georgetown. They named the Rupununi a model region for indigenous-led conservation. The Secretariat of the Alliance will be based in Georgetown, placing Guyana at the center of international biodiversity governance.
About this book
Rupununi: Rediscovering a Lost World uses photographs and words to tell the story of the Takutu Basin in southwest Guyana. The book explains how the landscape works — its geology, water, and seasons. It explores why species richness is so exceptional. The book also discusses how indigenous communities and conservation institutions are shaping the region’s future. It is written for everyone interested in one of the world’s last great wilderness areas.
About the book authors
Graham Watkins
Graham Watkins spent four decades working in Latin America and the Caribbean as a conservation biologist, natural resource specialist, and climate policy specialist. He served as Executive Director of the Charles Darwin Foundation in the Galápagos and Director General of the Iwokrama Centre in Guyana before leading the Climate Change Division at the Inter-American Development Bank. He holds a PhD from the University of Pennsylvania and an MA from the University of Oxford. He now works independently through Watkins Advisory, and The Rupununi remains one of the places that shaped his thinking most.
Pete Oxford
Pete Oxford is a British conservation photographer and biologist based in Cape Town, South Africa, after many years living in Quito, Ecuador. A Founding Fellow of the International League of Conservation Photographers (iLCP), he has spent decades working in the world’s most remote wildlife and cultural destinations. His award-winning images — recognized with the Ranger Rick Photographer of the Year award and Ecuador’s Photo Journalist of the Year (2014) — have appeared in publications including National Geographic and International Wildlife.
Renee Bish
Renee Bish is a naturalist, conservationist, designer, sculptor, nurse, and photographic partner to Pete Oxford. South African by origin, she has lived in Ecuador since 1992 and has traveled extensively alongside Oxford, documenting wildlife and indigenous cultures around the world. Together they co-lead Pete Oxford Expeditions and have contributed to conservation photography across some of the planet’s most biodiverse regions, including Guyana’s Rupununi.